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The Original Anaerobic Fermenting JarTue, 14 Nov 2017 20:01:00 GMTPickl-It Brine Recommendations
Salt is to brine, like flour is to a well-made bread. Proportions matter, and in both cases, measuring spoons and cups are worthless tools when it comes to measuring dry ingredients. Learn how to make a proper brine for your Pickl-It. ]]>
"Fermentation by definition is an anaerobic process. The lactic acid bacteria that carry out dairy and vegetable fermentations can grow in the presence of air but do not use oxygen to generate energy for growth. Using a fermentation lock to exclude oxygen but allow gas to escape will prevent aerobic yeasts and molds from growing. Aerobic yeasts and molds growing on the surface of sauerkraut brines can soften the kraut and produce off flavors. A more serious problem is that yeasts and molds growing aerobically on the surface of vegetable fermentation brines can consume the lactic acid and can cause pH to rise above 4.6, potentially resulting in botulism. Anaerobic fermentation of cabbage, on the other hand, with 2% salt (NaCl) and a temperature around 18C (64F) typically makes very good quality sauerkraut". Dr. Fred Breidt, USDA, Microbiologist

Weight Matters

Salt is to brine, like flour is to a well-made bread. Proportions matter, and in both cases, measuring spoons and cups are inadequate tools when it comes to obtaining the correct amount of dry ingredients.

Just like every type of grain has a different weight, every salt has a different weight depending on its grind, density and moisture content. Salt, like flour, is a more reliable, consistent ingredient, when weighed - NOT measured.

To illustrate...

Each dish in the above-photo contains 1 level-tablespoon of unrefined, additive-free (no added iodine or anti-caking agents) high-mineral salt, every one a unique brand and grind, ranging from super-fine to large and coarse. Several are moist, some are bone-dry. The brick-red Hawaiian salt (NOT meant to be used as a brine-salt, but instead, a "finishing" salt) contains added clay.

Using a digital scale, set to metric-grams instead U.S. ounces, we weighed each tablespoon of salt.

The end result: Their weights ranged from 10 to 16-grams per tablespoon. That's a whopping 60% difference, negatively or positively impacting salinity! Variations in salinity will impact fermentation.

Salt helps lactic acid bacteria win the microbial race. At a certain salt concentration, lactic acid bacteria grow more quickly than other microbes, and have a competitive advantage.

Below the correct concentration, bad bacteria may survive and spread more easily, possibly out-competing lactic acid bacteria and spoiling your pickles. Also, lactic acid bacteria don't survive in brines that are less than 1%. The "no-salt" fermentation movement doesn't have its roots in traditional fermentation, but instead, in modern misunderstandings about the importance of salt.

Too much salt is also a problem. Lactic acid bacteria cannot thrive, leaving your vegetables unpickled, and instead, salt-cured. Salt-cured has always been a traditional method of fermentation, but it is intentional - meant to kill lactic acid bacteria. What's more, salt-tolerant yeasts can spread more quickly. By consuming lactic acid, yeasts make the pickles less acidic - and more hospitable to spoilage microbes.Science of Cooking

Weigh, Don't Measure Salt

2. Create the amount of brine you need, whether 1-cup, 1-gallon, or 1-liter, at the proper salinity-level, following our easy-to-read chart.

3. Buy a gram-scale. Digital scales are inexpensive - under $20 - readily available. Make sure there's a "tare" button to zero-out your scale, to obtain the most accurate weight. Scales have a toggle-switch on the underside, one-side labeled "OZ", and the other, "GM". Switch the switch to GM - grams.

Which salt is best?

We recommend most dry salts - never wet. Wet salts typically contain clay or dirt, providing coloration (grey, red, brown, etc.) but they also act as a "substrate", a surface on which mold grows. Even when wet salts are baked at a very high temperature, in the hopes of killing mold, rsearch has shown that many mold spores survive. Another issue, not talked about enough, is the lead-content of many northern salts. Click here for a comprehensive report.

Some dry salts that are earth-colored (brown, grey), are "dirty", loaded with rock and dirt debris. To determine if your salt is loaded with debris, heat water to 180F. Remove from heat and add your salt to the water. Allow to cool to room temperature.

All salts are graded, like a good wine, according to their quality and use. We prefer a gourmet-grade for any culinary use, including fermentation.

2%? 3.5%? 5%? 10%? Which brine is best?

Dr. Fred Breidt, a USDA microbiologist and U of NC microbiology professor is quoted in mainstream pro-fermentation articles, as saying that properly-made "lactic acid fermentation is SAFER than canned food". When we talked with Dr. Bredit about Pickl-It anaerobic-fermentation, Dr. Breidt enthusiastically suggested that we could reduce the amount of salt normally used in other methods. Because our anaerobic-container suffocates oxygen-rich mold and yeast, the excess salt is NOT inhibit their growth.

"Anaerobic fermentation of cabbage, on the other hand, with 2% salt (NaCl) and a temperature around 18C (64F) typically makes very good quality sauerkraut."

Dr. Breidt's summary was: "Using the 2% in the Pickl-It, with its anaerobic-conditions, would create a consistently good end-product with superior results in taste, flavor and color retention."

This has been verified by our customers who regularly tell us they appreciate the "clean" flavor of Pickl-It foods, something many of them tried creating, but failed, when using other containers and methods.

For kraut, use 22 grams of salt for every 5-pounds of shredded cabbage. Our consulting microbiologists provided us with this tested ratio which results in a 2% brine. Alternate layers of cabbage/salt and press every 2-3 inches using a wooden tool. The goal is to press out oxygen-pockets, not to mash the cabbage. Continue building layers until the cabbage is compacted, 1-inch below the shoulder of the jar. For more details, see the kraut recipe.

Chart #1: Water is U.S. Measurement, salt in grams.

Examples: To create 8-cups of brine at 2% salinity, use 38 grams of salt. To create 3-cups of brine at a 2% salinity, add the amount of salt called for in the columns under 1-cup (5 grams) and 2-cups (10 grams) which equals 15-grams of salt. If creating a 1% brine, simply divide the 2% salt grams by 50%. To make a 1% brine for 2-cups of water, use half of the 5-grams, ROUND DOWN to 2 grams.

Hot water dissolve: Coarse-grind, unrefined sea-salt, requires using a hot-water method: heat water to near-boil, add salt, stirr repeatedly until salt dissolves, then wait until the brine cools to room temperature.

Cold-water dissolve: Our Pickl-It Brine-Grind Sea Salt is ground into a powder which dissolves instantly in cold water. No more heating, stirring, waiting. Instead, brines are simple-to-create on an as-needed basis, and their nutrients are retained, not destroyed by heat.

If you are following the "Getting Started with Pickl-It" tutorial, you may navigate to the following:

In 1912, a century-ago this year, a concept and a chemical - "vitamine" - was "discovered".

Biochemistry, up until the advent of vitamine's discovery, was a theoretical, often philosophical sector of chemistry. Vitamins provided biochemistry with a real-world direction, giving the field credibility.

While there was reason to celebrate, discovery also brings about change - taking some people longer than others to move in the same direction. The discovery of vitamins was as revolutionary, and sometimes threatening, as Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Scientists, as well as the common man, were challenged to adjust and change their view of the physical world. For the late 19th-century, early 20th-century scientist, living and non-living organic substances could no longer be kept in separate research categories. Instead, the discovery of "vitamine" verified centuries of observations, that food and life (of humans and animals) were interactive.

Even the concept of "nutrition" was abstract, something intuitively known, but not understood. Benjamin Thompson wrote in 1795, "...our knowledge in regard to the science of nutrition is still very imperfect". In 1803, physician Thomas Christie, speculated that the cause of beriberi might be the "want of stimulating and nourishing diet" with the difference between disease and health dependent on "...some nice chemical combination".

It took another fifty or so years for biochemists to get back to the business of contemplating centuries of observations which pointed toward nutrition as the cure, and not modern pasteurization.

Beriberi, a thiamine nutritional disease, is a great example of how nutrition as our medicine, trumps Pasteur's germ theory.

Beriberi

Beriberi ravaged 19th-century colonial Asia, resulting in over 2 million deaths. In 1886, the Dutch East India Company sent a research team to discover its cause. Following Pasteur's Germ Theory, their fruitless search was abandoned less than a year later.

All but one member of the team, Christian Eijkman, a biochemist, was dismissed. Eijkman continued the germ-search for another decade, until answers to beriberi's cause came from an unexpected source. His flock of chickens had developed beriberi!

Instead of dying, the chickens were healed, restored to good health by the brown rice. There was no doubt in Eijkman's mind that poison, and not germs, created beriberi. He reasoned that white polished-rice contained a poison, while brown rice offered the antidote.

"Vitamines" Discovered

In 1912, a little over a decade after Eijkman's poison-antidote theory, chemist Kazimierz Funk continued Eijkman's experiment, duplicating the feeding of polished white rice and brown rice to pigeons - a common test-animal, later replaced by guinea pigs.

Funk, like Eijkman, saw a decline in the flock's health when fed polished white rice, and restored health when fed brown rice or brown rice bran.

The study led Funk to realize that there were substances in food essential to good health. He found that diseases such as beriberi, rickets, and scurvy could be cured by introducing into the diet organic compounds that contained certain chemical substances. Funk also maintained that certain diseases could be prevented by making sure the chemical substances were present in the diet. - Casamir Funk Bio

Eijkman's poison-antidote was Funk's "chemical" - thiamine (vitamin B1) - the real power behind berberi's prevention and cure. Funk published an article on the subject titled "On the Chemical Nature of the Substance which Cures Polyneuritis in Birds Induced by a Diet of Polished Rice."

While there were many predecesors who could lay claim to having suspected the existence of vitamins, there's no dispute when it comes to crediting Funk with coining the word "vitamine". Combining "vita" - "because clearly", Funk explained, "thiamine was vital" -with thiamine's "amine", "vitamine" was born.

The History of Nutrition - http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/history-of-nutrition-timeline.php

The Study of Vitamins - http://books.google.com/books?id=Whu_zOWPaTQC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=funk+concept+vitamin&source=bl&ots=pTwXzvi5_y&sig=xw9Hl7Hclg_pTVAzsNRzs5drq0s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9NSeT5f3OKKY0QHBnOGmDw&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=funk%20concept%20vitamin&f=false

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/794/happy-birthday-vitamines/
Tue, 01 May 2012 18:31:42 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2012-04-28:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/b7af44b89ddc863985ca155102d21c96Traditional Potato Preparation Reduces Acrylamide
Acrylamide formation during production of French fries is most effectively lowered by lactic acid fermentation of potato rods before deep-frying or baking. ]]>

Whatever her final potato-dish - gratin, latke, mashed, pan-fries, or oven-roasted - she prepped the potatoes, cutting them in halves or quarters, sometimes peeling, sometimes not.

If they were grated or match-stick cuts, she placed them into a tight-weave buttercloth, lowered into the brine to soak. The cloth made it easy to extract the pieces from the brine, without disturbing the collected potato starch which sat on the bottom of the bowl like a fine, marsh silt.

Potato Starch & Ironing

My grandmother and great-grandmother highly-prized potato starch. Without it, their shirts pillowcases, sheets, housedresses and aprons would have lacked its soft sheen, luxurious to the touch.

"Starches & Sizes are plant starches, usually corn starch nowadays, but formerly wheat or potato starch were commonly used when ironing cottons. Starches are used to stiffen; add crispness, body and glossiness; promote soil resistance (dirt particles adhere less easily to smooth, starched surfaces); and make ironing easier.

My grandmother didn't reveal the other important reason for soaking potatoes, until I was nearly a teen. It was of a more "delicate in nature" and not discussed in "mixed company".

"The potato is rightly held responsible for flatulence. But what is flatulence to the vigorous organs of peasants and workers?" - Denis Diederot, 18th century

Acrylamide - Grandma Never Knew

Two decades after my grandmother died, I learned about a third benefit of soaking potatoes in a brine.

In 2002, the European factory-food industry was shaken by the discovery of acrylamide, described as a "a neuro-toxin, genome-affecting, possible carcinogenic compound", created during the baking of gingerbread.

Over the next few years, other high-starch foods - French fries, chips, pan-fries, latkes, and even some canned black olives - were also found to contain questionable levels of acrylamide. (Friedman 2003; Dybing and others 2005)

"Acrylamide is formed by a heat-induced reaction between sugar (glucose, fructose and sucrose) and asparagine. Known as the Maillard reaction, this process is responsible for the brown colour and tasty flavour of baked, fried and toasted foods." Food Quality News

Since then, industrial food scientists have been scrambling - nearly a decade now - researching ways to eliminate or disrupt acrylamide creation. Most researchers targeted the amino acid - asparagine - experimenting with ways to disable its ability to interact with glucose or fructose.

Exotic food-additives were created - fungal extracts, bamboo leaf extracts, and even an FDA-approved bacteria-derived enzyme - none of which were successful. If any one extract or enzyme had been successful, a multi-billion dollar industry would have sprung up over night based on its success. Instead, the solution was far more simple, and subsequently, not patentable.

Grandma Trumps Scientists

My grandmother, and the generations of women before her, were good, intuitive scientists, employing good food-biochemistry practices now being confirmed.

"The study found that washing raw French fries, soaking them for 30 minutes and soaking them for 2 hours reduced the formation of acrylamide by up to 23%, 38% and 48% respectively but only if they were fried to a lighter colour." - Science Daily

This was a start! Far better success than bamboo or fungus extracts! I continued to dig through the latest biochemistry research using methods that were more in-line with my ancestors - that of a longer soaking time in brine, instead of plain water

Discovery!

Acrylamide Development = Created/Determined by the Glucose or Fructose Content, and NOT the Presence of Asparagine

While most factory-food researchers focused on reducing the amino acids using modern chemicals and unnatural food additives, a few thought inside the traditional-box of food preparation.

"Acrylamide formation in potato tubers is mainly determined by the contents of glucose, fructose andnot by the content of the asparagine." - Amrein

In other words, if you use spontaneous, natural fermentation methods which are efficient at reducing the potatoe's gluose and fructose, acrylamide formation will be disrupted. When there's insufficient amounts of potato sugar, there's a erduce interaction with the acrylamide-producing amino acid.

Anaerobic Fermentation is Key!

Anaerobic fermentatation is the perfect tool for reducing food starches and reducing-sugars.

Levels of several other amino acids involved in Maillard reactions, that is, alanine, arginine, phenylalanine, and serine, decreased during fermentation.

They taste amazing with a nice "tang"

Pickl-It is the perfect tool for the anaerobic-fermentation removal of reducing sugars from foods.

The Pickl-It anaerobic fermenting chamber locks oxygen out, strengthening the anaerobic lactic acid bacteria to do what they were created to do = consume "reducing sugars" - using those sugars as a food-source for energy in order to create healthy lactic acid as well as carbon dioxide which pushes dissolved oxygen out of the brine. Modern potatoes have a higher-starch content (thanks to McDonald's perverting the potato market, demanding high-starch potatoes). Adding Caldwell's Starter Culture - the world's first and best broad-spectrum all-natural vegetable starter - increases the number of sugar-eating lactic acid bacteria, thereby decreasing acrylamide formation.A Picture's Worth a Thousands Fries

Acrylamide formation during production of French fries is most effectively lowered by lactic acid fermentation of potato rods before deep-frying or baking. Here are some side-by-side comparisons from Vol. 71, Nr 1, 2006, in the Journal of Food Science which used blanching, instead of soaking, and fermentation in various combinations. Reprinted with permission.

In terms of the above-study, blanching, and especially fermentation, reduced visually judged browning of the French fries.

There are numerous studies that used soaking instead of blanching, a technique that I find to be a timer-saver over blanching. The results indicate that soaking is equally as effective as blanching in reducing acrylamide production:

"....soaking process leads to a higher leaching of one important acrylamide precursor, such as glucose, that finally results in lower acrylamide formation."Franco Pedreschi, Processing Effects on Safety & Quality of Food

One last note - if you decide to try potato starch for ironing, the Pickl-Itwon't be of much help.

Unlike an open-bowl water-only soaking-method which leaves a thick residue of starch in the bottom of the bowl - perfect for ironing, there will be no starch in the Pickl-It.

That's because the Pickl-It environment supports a healthy community of lactic acid bacteria which are very efficient at breaking down reducing-sugars and the starch, leaving only clear brine and not undigested starch-sludge.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/783/traditional-potato-preparation-reduces-acrylamide/
Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:43:03 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2012-02-26:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/044fe69daa765b4ad767a2da0dad7619New Christmas Traditions
We’ve created a number of new holiday food-traditions which harken back to traditions and recipes more common to our ancestors of old, more than modern “traditions”. Take a look at how Pickl-It Cranberry Orange & Apple Relish can be used to create a tasty Pickl-It Cranberry Granola Gems.]]>

Seven days to go until Christmas Day and I don't have a single cookie, batch of fudge, old-fashioned date quick-bread or Grand Marnier-drenched fruitcake prepared. In terms of these Swedish-Minnesota traditions of my upbringing, my Hospitality and Good Mom Card, are at-risk.

A little perspective....

Not everyone in Minnesota was of Swedish-heritage, but during the Christmas season, our family, friends, and most acquaintances followed Swedish Christmas customs, whether or not they knew it.

Swedish hospitality was measured by the number of Christmas cookies - a minimum of 12 varieties (7 if you were Norwegian) , ranging from 3 to 6-dozen of each one - which had to be created by December 1st.

Drop in to a neighbor's house for a "cuppa", after December 1st, and you could expect a beautiful assortment of cookies along with your coffee. Chances were, your host or hostess would wrap up the leftovers, sending them home with you.

Five Weeks of Baking

We used to begin baking cookies the day after Halloween, starting with those cookies which stored well in the freezer - Swedish Britches (almond), Thumbprints (walnut), Tepparkakar (cardamom), Drömkakor (Swedish Dream Cookies), and Trilbys (date-filled).

The basic cookie dough ingredients were pretty much the same for all recipes - equal amounts of all-purpose flour and granulated or powdered sugar - and sometimes both.

Molded, pressed, or rolled into a variety of shapes, the favored-fat was butter, while a knowing nod, "She uses margarine", was a death knell to a baking-reputation.

Use shortening? That meant you'd never earn a reputation to defend or protect!

In studying food history, I discovered that my Scandinavian ancestors probably didn't have access or the finances to acquire large amounts of sugar, a luxury item. My husband remembers his grandmother making batches of deep-fried Fattimand, more crispy-pastry than a sweet cookie, which is probably more authentic than my sweet-treats.

Another rare food staple was butter. When it ran out, seal fat was substituted for the frying of food.

In other words, my ancestors would not have wasted their precious, life-sustaining foods and staples on creating treats when survival was at stake. Later, in more "modern times (1680 and beyond) sugar became more readily available, and it was then that sugar consumption increased, but still, it was nowhere near the level of today.

Sugar Sugar Sugar

In the last 20 years, sugar consumption in the U.S. has increased from 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year.

The first Christmas that I didn't create Christmas cookies, was our first cold and flu-free Christmas. We'd always assumed winter illnesses were part of the Christmas season, right along with cookies and egg nog.

I'm going with the Appleton-theory since those of the "no science" mindset don't appear to differentiate between factory-food sugars, stripped-bare of valuable minerals, and those sugars which are whole-food, rich in important nutrients which are beneficial. Take this recent study on maple sugar, for example -

Dr. Keiko Abe of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences led a study that showed that maple syrup could promote a healthier liver. The results will be published in the November 2011 issue of Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry. Dr. Abe’s recent findings, published research suggests that 100% pure maple syrup may prove to be a better choice of sweetener because it was found to be rich in polyphenolic antioxidants and contains vitamins and minerals. In the study, rats on the maple syrup diet after 11 days showed significantly decreased levels of liver enzymes AST, ALT, and LDH in the blood, standard biomarkers for evaluating liver function. Gene expression profiling observations suggest a mechanism whereby the maple syrup diet caused genes involved in the production of harmful ammonia in the liver to be less active. - Maple Syrup Maple syrup Shows Health Benefits

We've created a number of new holiday food-traditions which harken back to traditions and recipes more common to our ancestors of old, more than modern "traditions". Take a look at how Pickl-It Cranberry Orange & Apple Relish can be used to create a tasty Pickl-It Cranberry Granola Gems.

Crane is describing “real” honey – that which is raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized. While real honey may not go “bad”, such as developing mold, high-glucose honey may have color, texture, flavor and, most important, nutritional changes that compromises its health benefits.

Ancient cultures stored raw, unfiltered, liquid-honey in porous, sealed jars, stacking them in cold caves. This was a very intentional food-preservation method which brilliantly controlled the speed that high-glucose honey did, or did not, crystallize. Controlling crystallization created a wholesome honey that stored well for years, and even decades.

Where and how you store honey makes a huge difference between honey-gone-bad and honey-gone good.

Two friends contacted me, each lamenting they’d “ruined” their raw, unfiltered liquid-honey, purchased from local beekeepers last September.

One friend placed her glass jar of honey on the top shelf of her kitchen cabinets. The other friend placed her plastic buckets of fresh, raw honey in her root cellar under the bottom shelf.

In both cases, the honey was out-of-sight, out-of-mind and when discovered, served as a bit of a surprise party! In both cases, the honey’s viscosity, color, texture, aroma and flavor were dramatically different than when first stored. The most noticeable difference was the change in viscosity, once free-flowing liquid, now a thick, creamed honey, the result of naturally-occurring super-fine crystallization which occurs in high-glucose honey.

One was edible, its color a beautiful, light-taupe; the other was inedible, its color a dark, mahogany brown, an indication of naturally-occurring toxins, the result of erratic temperature fluctuations. More on that in a bit. First, let’s compare the storage methods –

Kitchen Cabinet Stash – The dark-brown, near-mahogany honey was stored on the top-shelf of the kitchen cabinet. Temperatures had fluctuated between 68F and 90F, a range that kept the honey in a perpetual state of crystallizing or liquefying, never remaining constant.

Because the moisture had no way of escape, the honey fermented towards sour and alcohol, evidenced by the clear liquid floating on top a more solid brown mass. Temperatures that we might not consider to be excessively warm, damage honey –

The plastic covers were bulging, ready to “blow their lid” – there’s a fine-line between crystallization and fermentation. Plastic is a poor choice for long-term storage, a topic covered in our Honey Storage Tips article.

“It is best to minimize temperature fluctuations and avoid storing honey near heat sources.” National Honey Board, Shelf-Life Stability Report

To Eat or Not To Eat – That Was The Question

Understandably, both friends questioned whether or not they had been so neglectful of their honey, that it had spoiled, having gone bad.

“Honey [raw and unfiltered] is highly stable against microbial growth because of its low water activity, low moisture content, low pH, and antimicrobial constituents.” – Cornell University “Master Beekeeper – Shelf-Life and Stability”

While honey may well remain stable in its ability to fight off microbial growth, that doesn’t mean its nutrients, enzymes, aroma and flavor are stable. Color is a good indication of damage, and especially so when it comes to a naturally-occurring enzymes resulting from roller-coaster temperatures shifts and storage inability.

HMF is a sugar breakdown product. Its presence was once considered to be a marker for the adulteration of honey with commercial invert syrup, however it has since been found that HMF can occur naturally in honey through improper heat processing or extended storage. As such, HMF is used as indicator of honey quality since it increases with temperature and storage time. European Food Standards Agency

New evidence in the last few years suggests that a naturally-occurring enzyme, Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) increases in strength, while honey’s nutritional benefits decrease. While HMF isn’t isolated strictly to honey – occurring in a wide-range of heated products including corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and fruit juices – there is ongoing research studying HMF’s impact on human-health.

We do know, that HMF high-fructose corn syrup kills bees, and has been linked to DNA damage in humans. European honey standards measure HMF, which, when exceeding unacceptable limits, honey is prohibited for human consumption. The United States has no such testing or standards.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/488/honey-gone-good-bad/
Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:23:58 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-06-07:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/45b2d496ef8c632b799fef8dddc23653Honey Storage Tips
Leave it to we moderns and our plastics. Some research has shown that honey stored in low-density polyethylene can lose moisture, resulting in crystallization. (Assil, H.I. et al. 1991. Crystal Control in Processed Liquid Honey. Journal of Food Science 56(4):1034.)]]>
Honey does not go “bad” as many foods do; it remains wholesome after decades. -Eva Crane, “A Book of Honey”

Raw, unfiltered honey is an amazing substance, naturally-resistant to microbial growth because of its low moisture content, low pH and antimicrobial composition.

While it is true that raw, unfiltered honey doesn’t go “bad” – it won’t mold – its complex flavor profile may be compromised if mishandled by fluctuating hot and cold temperatures. Cold increases crystallizing, while warm temperatures liquefy honey. If honey is exposed to constant back ‘n forth temperatures between warm and cold, honey’s texture, flavor and nutritional values will be slowly diminished.

Maintaining proper storage temperatures, using oxygen-blocking storage containers like the Pickl-It and controlling crystallization will keep your raw, unfiltered honey tasty for years to come.

The ancients stored raw, unfiltered honey in sealed pourous clay containers (and not in BPA-toxic, plastic honey-bears), stacked in cool-temperature caves. The gases created during crystallization, push the lighter-weight oxygen out through the porous clay.

Cool temperatures help speed crystallization, resulting in a finely granulated creamed honey that not only tastes great, but naturally-preserves the the honey’s nutritional value.

Select a Storage Method For Your Liquid, Raw, Unfiltered Honey

Storage containers and temperatures make the difference between creating rock-hard (large-crystal) honey that needs to be liquefied (which destroys enzymes, color, and vitamins, and increases undesirable HMF), or luscious, creamed honey (small crystal) that is stable and well-preserved.

Ways in Which Temperatures Affect Honey:

Freezing – Liquid high-glucose honey that is frozen, will never crystallize and never lose vital nutrients

The longer honey is stored at temperatures consistently in the upper-80s and above, honey becomes discolored, moving away from golden, towards dark brown. This is an indication that the nutrients have been impaired – still edible – but not as vital.

Honey that is heated, in order to liquefy it from a rock-crystal state, suffers the same dark-brown discoloration, and loss of vital nutrients.

Ways in Which Containers Affect Honey

Leave it to we moderns and our plastics. Some research has shown that honey stored in low-density polyethylene loses moisture, resulting in crystallization, as well as negatively impacted by oxidation. (Assil, H.I. et al. 1991. Crystal Control in Processed Liquid Honey. Journal of Food Science 56(4):1034.)

Pickl-It is a great honey-storage container. First, its positive seal doesn’t allow oxygen back into the container where it can oxidize important nutrients (called oxygen toxicity), as well as carrying moisture into the honey, causing a more severe form of fermentation, moving the honey toward alcohol (Mead). (Jiménez, M. et al. 1994. Influence of the Storage Conditions on Some Physicochemical and Mycological Parameters of Honey. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture)

The photo on the left is our Pickl-ItCreamed Honey recipe which is rich in flavor, color-stable, and has a smooth texture, protected from oxygen, and easily stored in a refrigerator or cold root cellar.

Storage Temperatures

The Cornell University Master Beekeeper program, primarily geared toward mass-market honey producers, recommends that honey should be pasteurized to control fermentation and crystallization of honey, “serious obstacles to successful marketing.” For those who object to pasteurization, Cornell responds,

“Honey stored at 77 °F for 40 days will incur as much damage as honey heated to 145 °F for 60 minutes.”

This doesn’t scream “pasteurization” to me. Instead? It communicates that we need to store our raw, unfiltered, healthy, living-nutrient honey at cooler temperatures.

I really like Sally Fallon’s views on this in her “Fermented Honey” article available at Weston Price –

“Only careful and minimal processing will preserve the many nutritive benefits of honey. Honey should never be heated during extraction or the enzymes will be destroyed; nor should it be filtered. Honey should be thick and opaque. When it comes to honey, see-through is obscene.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/481/honey-storage-tips/
Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:58:07 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-05-28:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/8239799529529454bbe48aad07c10072Wild Grapes - Pests or Blessings?
We’ve located most of the berries listed by Gibbons, many of them on our own three little acres, with the exception of the wild grape that thrives throughout the world, is ubiquitous in New England… ]]>
"Now you know how it feels," my brother said,"To be a bunch of fox-grapes, as they call them,That when it thinks it has escaped the foxBy growing where it shouldn't--on a birch,Where a fox wouldn't think to look for it--And if he looked and found it, couldn't reach it--Just then come you and I to gather it." - Excerpt, Wild Grapes by Robert Frost

Between March's Spring Peeper mating-call and October's heady-aroma of wild grapes, is a busy season of harvest.

Weeks before our CSA's bounty of cultivated vegetables are ready to be preserved, we "wildcraft", popularized by Euell Gibbons, a 1960s author credited with awakening people to conservation and the benefits of eating wild food.

First published over four decades ago, Gibbon's first book, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, remains a popular, highly-recommended beginner's guide to wild, edible plants. Gibbons wasn't a survivalist, but instead, raised with a knowledge of wild plants, handed down to him by his mother who taught the benefits of living off-the-land.

In Stalking the Good Life, Gibbons devotes a good portion of his book to wild berries, including those used in wine-making or fruit-based lambic, a sour beer rich with beneficial probiotic bacteria.

We've located most of the berries listed by Gibbons, many of them on our own three little acres, with the exception of the wild grape that thrives throughout the world, is ubiquitous in New England...

Native grape vines like fox grape form suffocating thickets over shrubs and rapidly climb trees, threatening to out-compete their hosts for light. Though native to eastern and central North America, wild grape is an indisputable pest. Other native plants that are often invasive include blackberries, poison ivy, wild onions and cattails. Just as with exotic introductions, it's a small percentage of native species that cause problems. Plant Selection: Native or Exotic?

Still, even with their potentially invasive-nature, I longed to have my own source of wild grape vines, grown on my organic, chemical-free soil, for use in the making of fermented foods and pickling the grapes leaves to make dolmades.

Be Careful What You Pray For

I was awakened one morning, not by strange sounds, but by the lack of bird song. Normally, the forest surrounding our home is the definition of cacophony, the enthusiastic Veery always the first to be heard, promptly at 4:30 a.m.

Leaping from bed, I peered through my bedroom window, surveying the yard. There! In the weak beam of sunlight filtering through the forest, a burst of red drew my eyes to the cause of the deafeaning silence - a fox.

She was using our 1,400 foot dirt-packed driveway as a hunting path, sauntering back and forth, working every inch of it - head held high, ears at full-mast - stopping every 15-feet to listen for small rodents in the untamed vegetation.

The Song of Solomon - "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom" - and Aesop's Fables, The Fox and the Grape , came to mind as I watched her hunt. Ironic! We had a fox, but no dew-kissed grapes - a normal part of their diet - should her hunt fail!

A verse from the "Wild Grapes" by Robert Frost "Now you know how it feels," my brother said, "To be a bunch of fox-grapes, as they call them, That when it thinks it has escaped the fox By growing where it shouldn't--on a birch, Where a fox wouldn't think to look for it-- And if he looked and found it, couldn't reach it-- Just then come you and I to gather it.", by Robert Frost, a local "authority" who once lived just up-the-road in northern New Hampshire, gave me an idea....

To be a bunch of fox-grapes, as they call them,That when it thinks it has escaped the foxBy growing where it shouldn't--on a birch,Where a fox wouldn't think to look for it--

...that it was time to check our wild birch trees for grape vines. Perhaps, if we had a fox, we'd find fox-grapes.

To my amazement, we did, indeed, have a healthy fox-grape vine on our property.

To my dismay, unlike the vine of Frost's poem, ours was not growing in our birch-grove, but instead, hiding in one of my cherished dogwoods, New Hampshire’s Big Tree for May. Such a clever plant! Having snaked its way up the dogwood's trunk, the fox-grape was well-hidden behind a dense-screen of blooming peonies.

Dilemma...

To rip out the long-awaited grape vine? Or wait, harvesting its leaves and grapes, waiting to remove the vine in the fall?

"Wildcrafters do not regard wild plants as being simply available for the taking. Tending the plant communities to increase species diversity and to help plants proliferate is very common. Tenure of wild species includes selectively harvesting certain parts of a plant so that it actually grows back more prolifically and replanting sensitive plants. Seed or spore dispersal is also common. These tending activities also blur the line between that which is 'wild' or 'cultivated'."Craft & Tenure

On closer inspection, we determined the dogwood is at low-risk of suffocation - at least for this summer - so I'll harvest and pickle its leaves, juice the grapes, and study cutting and transplant techniques.

This fall, after the first hard-freeze, I'll rescue my dogwood this fall, removing the coiled fox-grape vine.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/722/wild-grape-pest/
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:33:19 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2011-07-14:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/d134b0aece82aa624b3d2b9021a5ab15Falling in Love Again - With Healthy Fats
Lipase from fat-rich lipids are available in all fatty foods and oils, but their quality and useability depends on a number of factors.]]>

During the 63rd meal of our 3-week marriage, I watched my husband poke and prod once-hot, now lukewarm food on his dinnerplate, using his fork like a miniature pitchfork.

With each sigh that escaped his lips, my appetite waned. Setting my fork aside, I lobbed a few questions across the dinner table.....

How was he feeling? Fine? Good, good....

Anything new at work? No? Nothing?

Was he fired? Sorry, sorry...

Had someone died?

....did little to gain insight, although he did reward me with a chuckle at my dark-humor attempts to get his attention, if even for a moment. Within seconds, he returned to the business of pondering, puncturing his dinner.

"How is your dinner, by the way?", I asked, having finally connected the pokes.

"Fine! Really!", he responded, a bit too enthusiastic, given the fact he'd not eaten a single bite.

Enough sitting and sighing! Time for action!

With one smooth motion, I stood, swept the plates from the table, and headed for the kitchen, very nearly out-of-sight before my husband snapped out of his stupor.

"What? Wait! Where are you going with our dinner," he called after me.

A split second before disappearing from view, I calmly offered, "Pizza? Chinese take-out? How about Taco Favorito?" He responded as if my alternative dinner ideas were outlandish, as if I'd suggested we should grab a pair of flashlights, and forage for our dinner at the local dump.

The busyness of feeding our dinner to the garbage disposal, gave him time to contemplate, putting thoughts into words.

"I love and appreciate the fact that you work so...hard....making all our meals", he explained. "But...the plain, simple truth is...well....I had no idea that mayonnaise could be used in so many unique, different and unusal ways. In every meal. Every dish. Even desserts!"

My brain registered his words as simple statements-of-fact, nothing more, nothing less than, "the sun rises and sets every day".

"Well, yes thank you!", I smiled, relieved that he was getting back to normal, having computer-guy moments of stating-the-obvious.

Cocking one eyebrow, he spoke plainly. "Honey? The thing I just told you about the mayo? That isn't a good thing....."

Mayonnaise Was to Cooking, Like Duct Tape was to Home Repair

Mayonnaise was a staple "food" of my childhood. Starting at the age of 10, I faithfully copied family recipes collected from my mother, paternal grandmother and aunts. With every family get-together, baby shower, wedding or funeral, my mayo-based recipe collection grew. "She's going to be some cook, some day!", my proud grandfather often chortled.

The salad category was the largest in the collection - every imaginable dressing for lettuce salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, egg salad, tuna salad, and broccoli & bacon salad, all relied on mayo's tangy flavor and full-body texture. There was plenty of mayo left to go around, though, when it came to other uses -

Does your Jello-O salad need spiffing up? Add a side of mayonnaise for a flavor and texture contrast!

Casseroles (hot dishes for those in Minnesota!) created with a 50/50 blend of sour cream and mayo were as useful for quick weeknight suppers as they were for baby and wedding showers - even a funeral or two! Cream cheese cubes added to mayo gave that extra something for those special wedding dinners.

Clearly, I was a woman in need of intervention. Mayonnaise Intervention!

Out with the Bad, In With the....Not-So-Good!

I took a good, long look at my recipes - dividing them into mayo and non-mayo piles - and discovered what my husband already knew. Too many were too mayo-dependent! Out went the "bad" and in came the "good" - new recipes from Cooking Light.

Not only had I culled processed mayo from our diet, but I threw out the nutrient-dense animal fats as well.

If I'd known then what I know now.....

Well-reasoned and well-researched articles of the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) - The Skinny on Fats, The Oiling of America, and Know Your Fats - showed us that modern diets, rich in not-so-healthy vegetables oil, are a disease waiting to happen. We learned about the time-honored benefits of whole-food nutrient-dense raw fat - cream, egg yolk, butter - and their protective, not destructive, role in a well-balanced diet.

For a review of traditional, healthy foods recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation and Nourishing Tradtiions, read their Dietary Guidelines.

Low-Fat, No-Fat or Low-Water Foods Create Lipase Deficiency

Lipase - an important enzyme worth some study-time - is made in the body and used to break down fat in food so nutrients can be absorbed in the intestines. Reduce the lipase? Reduce your body's ability to absorb nutrients.

"Internal lipase deficiency may develop when more lipase is needed for fat digestion and absorption than can be produced in the pancreas." Lipase & Fat Metabolism

Lipase from fat-rich lipids are available in all fatty foods and oils, but their quality and useability depends on a number of factors.

"All lipid-rich foods also are high in lipase. However, you need to be aware that lipase is water-soluble while at the same time being attracted to the lipid phase. Therefore, you cannot get much lipase by using only the lipid phase, such as vegetable oil." Lipase & Fat Metabolism

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/683/love-healthy-fats/
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 07:03:44 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2011-06-14:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/05672d068ed8040aac326244844a7f7eLipase & Lipids for Health
After having been deceived by the low-fat/ no-fat folks, I didn’t leap on the butter & mayonnaise-bandwagon, the minute I bought Nourishing Traditions.]]>
My people perish from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4: 6)

After having been deceived by the low-fat/ no-fat folks,I didn't leap on the butter & mayonnaise-bandwagon, the minute I bought Nourishing Traditions.

I had long-ago given up traditional animal and dairy-fats (red meat, real butter, natural whole-fat cream) exchanging them for the low-fat lie.

To make another switch, going back to real foods, seemed to take more faith than when I so-easily accepted the poor substitutes. Odd how that works.

It helped that Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig, an experienced chemist and researcher, widely-known and respected for her research on the nutritional aspects of fats and oils, are not figureheads, but readily-available to answer questions in the traditional-fats-are-healthy and modern-fats-are-deadly message.

"Dr. Mary Enig, co-author of Nourishing Traditions, published research in 1978 when she was at the University of Maryland, showing the stastistical correlation between the increase of cancer mortality and vegetable fat consumption in the United States." Dr. Passwater's Interview with Dr. Mary Enig

During the last several years, others, like-minded in the need to help educate traditional-fat vs modern-processed-fat, have contributed informative pieces, supporting and verifying the NT and WAPF-message:

"The answer lies in the overriding importance of fats and oils not only for our energy metabolism, but even more so for the structural integrity of our body. Fats, oils and related fat-soluble vitamins and other biochemicals, such as lecithin and cholesterol, are collectively called lipids. Most of our brain, nerves and cell membranes consist of lipids. Lipase is important to maintain optimal cell membrane permeability; this allows adequate nutrient supply into the cells and wastes to flow out. P.G. Seeger, the most prolific researcher into the relationship between nutrition and cancer, has clearly shown that the first biochemical step towards cancer is a deterioration of the cell membrane." Lipase & Fat MetabolismDr. Enig had a Faculty Research Associateship from 1984 through 1991 with the Lipids Research Group in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park. Lipids and lipase are foundational to the health-supporting message of Nourishing Traditions (NT) and Weston A. Price Foundation's (WAPF).Here's a quick summary of what is, at best, a gross over-simplification, but enough to understand their valuable role in maintaining major facets of health.

Lipids (fats) require special digestive action before absorption into the human body, as the end products must be carried in a water medium (blood and lymph) in which fats are not soluble.

Lipids are one of 3 major food groups needed for proper nutrition

Lipids are fats (triglycerides), oils and fat-soluble vitamins and other biochemicals (lecithin and cholesterol) found in nutrient-dense whole-foods.

Off topic: Triglycerides are stored in muscles - for those who body-build

Lipids are also a large component of our brain, nervous system and cell membranes all of which need to be restored, refreshed, regenerated by fatty acids (among many other chemical processes).

Lipid-rich foods (triglycerides) must be broken down into their components (fatty acids), for absorption through our intestinal wall.

Fats (or) Oils + Water ---lipase---> Fatty acids + Glycerol

Lipase hydrolyze (break down) lipids for proper digestion and absorption in our body. If lipids are NOT properly broken down before they are absorbed, health issues may occur.

Lipase (enzyme - a protein) breaks down (hydrolyzes) the lipid ester bonds in triglycerides into basic components of fatty acids, separating them from their glycerol base

Lipase require high water content so that the end product (fatty acids and glycerol) may be transported through blood and lymph system

Lipase are also important in the fermentation process of cheese and yogurt, freeing fatty acids and breaking down fat. (Read more here.)

Last but not least? Why did I have such difficulty digesting nutrient-dense WAPF/NT whole-fats after spending 16-years on a low fat diet? Lipase requires a high pH for its activation among food enzymes. That is why fats are the most difficult of all foods to digest.

Lipase Deficiency

When lipase is deficient in the food we eat, or the pancreas becomes over-taxed needing to produce that which the pancreas isn't creating; or when we don't "Chew your food! Chew! Chew! Chew!" but instead, "Wolf it down!", we may experience internal lipase deficiency.Lipase has vast importance for our health, not just in regard to the commonly recognized diseases of the fat metabolism, such as overweight and underweight, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, strokes and degenerative muscle diseases, but also for skin problems, autoimmune diseases, cancer, degenerative diseases of the brain and nervous system, and also for rejuvenation and regeneration in general. Dr. Walter LastThe natural solution - rather than taking lipase supplements which don't work well for all people, and may cause stomach and digestion upset - is to consume foods that are high in lipids and raw lipase. Raw egg yolk, grass-fed full-fat cream, butter, milk, and eating whole-foods sources of raw lipase - avocado, coconuts - instead of just their oil, are easy, tasty way to maintain a sufficient supply of food-based lipase.

Lipase + Vinegar

I do not use apple cider vinegar (ACV) as it may neutralize raw-egg lipase, which then interferes with the lipid-lipase-water interface when breaking down fats. In a nutrient-dense, whole-food diet where there is a good supply of steady lipid-rich foods throughout the day, this may not be a concern, but for those transitioning from a dead-nutrient standard-American diet, every bit of lipase counts.

Fats (or) Oils + Water ---lipase---> Fatty acids + Glycerol

Use heat or vinegar-acid, and you'll remove lipase from the above equation, resulting in an ineffective, indigestible fat, without benefit of freed fatty acids.

Health Benefits of Whole-Food Lipase

Hydrolizes lipids (breaks down fats) into fatty acids and glycerol

Aids in weight loss

Reduces gallstone development and size of gallstones

Increases cell permeability for nutrients to enter, wastes to exist

Reduces unhealthy fat buildup in bloodstream

Lipase deficiency is highest when diet contains no more than 20 grams fat each day

While all lipid-rich (fat) foods are high in lipase, lipase may not be available. (For more information on the connection between lipids and lipase and its relationship to our digestive and pancreas-health, read my other article, "Lipids & Lipase: Keys to Good Health".

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/694/lipase-lipids-health/
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:37:27 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2011-06-19:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/69c19dac093f021f5d3275c0272d9663Potent Lactic-Acid Bacteria for Heavy-Metal Decontamination
Use Pickl-It to put the power of naturally-occurring lactic-acid bacteria to work in your grains, seeds and legumes.]]>
We learned more about “natural history”, spending several Sunday afternoons visiting a paleontologist friend’s laboratory, then we had all the years spent strolling through sterile, hands-off museums.

As much an educator, as scientist, he encouraged “hands-on” learning, urging us to handle broken, scarred and shattered dinosaur bones mined from his secret-location dinosaur quarry.

One specimen stands out in my memory – a large femur, still partially entombed in its rock-slab. Across its expanse, a 6-inch crevasse had been carved out of the bone by large teeth, driven by powerful jars. What wasn’t clear was whether or not that was the fatal blow, ending the creature’s life.

In response to our speculations, our scientist-friend pointed towards the neighboring fossil-preparation table holding a 4-foot tail section. Like the femur, the vertebrae were partially exposed above the rock and dirt, neatly laid end-to-end. Between each vertebrae were sections of packed dirt, easily cleaned away with a few gentle chisel strokes and swipes of a brush. There was one section, between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae, different from the others. The gap wasn’t filled with rock and dirt, but instead, a strange, twisted dark, solid mass, fusing the two vertebrae together.

The mass was cancer – osteosarcoma – a much more “likely cause of this grand beast’s demise”, said our friend, the paleontologist.

My brain struggled trying to connect the pieces of the puzzle. An ancient creature, living during a time when there were no car fumes, synthetic pesticides, toxic cleaning chemicals, or heavy metals pouring from industrial smokestacks, was struck down by what I’d viewed as a modern disease.

Since then, I’ve learned some amazing and wondrous things, such as virulent, life-threatening toxins – heavy metals, cyanotoxins and mycotoxins have always existed, threatening the lives of animals and humans.

They’ve been just as much a part of this world as have the beneficial microbes permeating our soil, air, and water. I’ve also learned that we are truly fearfully and wonderfully made – that with the right nutritional support, eating a nutrient-dense diet, and following traditional ancient-paths of food production and preservation (drying, salting, curing, brining, fermenting, and pickling) that we stand a better chance of neutralizing those things which might do us harm.

Times of drought, stress, volcanoes or any number of other natural-disasters could well have weakened both a viable food-supply and the immune system of what was finally identified as a magnificent Sauropod. Like him, we are both a microbial-being, as well as a chemical-being, our digestive system in need of daily-supplementation of lactic-acid bacteria that not only aid digestion, restoring the mucosa lining of our “guts”, but also powerful in defending and protecting our lives.

“Lactic acid bacteria have been identified as potent tools for the decontamination of heavy metals, cyanotoxins and mycotoxins.“ Research Abstract

The next time you create a batch of traditionally-fermented sourdough bread, consider the beneficial lactic-acid bacteria hard at work, neutralizing the naturally-occurring mycotoxins that are on the surface of most grains.

Or contemplate the fermented red-lentil dosa made with rice, a grain known to contain high levels of lead from lead arsenate once used extensively on croplands.

Industrial-processed boxed cereals, breads, cookies, cakes, biscuits, muffins and other grain-based products that have not been created with a traditional sourdough fermentation process, will not offer the same advantages, an issue the industrialized “food” conglomerates would love to mass-produce.

Why wait for them to discover what thousands of generations knew intuitively throughout time – that lacto-fermented foods, created in small-batches at home, offers a wide-range of lactic-acid bacteria benefits.

Use Pickl-It to put the power of naturally-occurring lactic-acid bacteria to work in your grains, seeds and legumes.

Abstract Aims: The primary objective of this study was to compare the removal of cadmium, lead, aflatoxin B1 and microcystin-LR from aqueous solution by Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, L. rhamnosus LC705, Propionibacterium freudenreichii shermanii JS and Bifidobacterium breve Bbi99/E8, separately and in combination.

Methods and Results: The removal of toxins and heavy metals was assessed in batch experiments. The removal of all compounds was observed to be strain specific. The removal of lead by a combination of all the strains used was observed to be lower than could be predicted from the removal by single strains (P < 0·05). A similar trend was also observed with the other compounds studied.

Conclusions: The results show that the toxin-removal capacity of a combination of strains of lactic acid bacteria is not the sum of their individual capacities. Therefore, pure single strains should be used when the goal is to remove single compounds. The use of combinations of strains may be beneficial when several compounds are removed together. This needs to be studied in future experiments.

Significance and Impact of the Study: Lactic acid bacteria have been identified as potent tools for the decontamination of heavy metals, cyanotoxins and mycotoxins. The results of this study should be considered when selecting combinations of bacteria for the simultaneous removal of several toxic compounds.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/565/potent-lactic-acid-bacteria-for-heavy-metal-decontamination/
Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:19:34 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-08-29:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/6876e21617510d13d7ccb9d149771988Garlic is the #1 Herb
Depending on your purpose and use, cooked garlic is better than crushed for some chemicals, but crushed is better than steamed for others, while steamed might be preferable to macerated garlic…it’s incredibly versatile, which is why herbalists adore garlic, their #1 herb.]]>
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” – Aristotle

I don’t think Aristotle was considering garlic’s numerous, versatile attributes and uses, when he coined this quotable-quote.

Garlic’s individual parts, all the way from the tip of the curly-cue garlic scape, down to the garlic head, have been credited with medicinal properties for thousands of years1. Depending on which part you use, and how it’s prepared, the beneficial chemicals and nutrients are quite different2.

Crushing or finely chopping garlic followed by boiling in an open container, leads to volatilization and loss (including Vitamin C) of many chemically unstable, but potentially medicinal, thisulfinates.

Steam distillation produces an oily mass of active compounds including dillyl, methyl allyl, dimethyl, and allyl 1-propenyl oligosulfides that originate from the tiosulfinates.

Maceration of garlic in vegetable oil or soybean oil produces vinyl dithiins, ajoenes, and diallyl and nethyl allyl trisulfides. This latter method is the one used to prepare commercially available garlic capsules.

Depending on your purpose and use, cooked garlic is better than crushed for some chemicals, but crushed is better than steamed for others, while steamed might be preferable to macerated garlic…it’s incredibly versatile, which is why herbalists adore garlic, their #1 herb.

Garlic Health Benefits – health benefits as well as interesting information on topic use of garlic as a way to get it into the system faster as well as infusing wine, as another means of speeding it up into the system (since allicin, the key component is usually neutralized or greatly reduced by saliva and the stomach’s digestive enzymes, not necessarily making it into the digestive tract, etc.)

3 Garlic Overview, University of Maryland, Medical Center: “There are several important components of garlic that have been identified, and many more that have not. Alliin is an odorless sulfur-containing chemical derived from the amino acid cysteine. When garlic bulbs are crushed, alliin is converted into another compound called allicin. Allicin appears to be one of the primary active compounds that gives garlic its characteristic odor and many of its healing benefits. However, allicin is not absorbed effectively by the human body. To combat this problem, aged garlic is fermented to break allicin down to usable compounds. These compounds are water-soluble sulfur compounds (S-allyl cysteine and others) and a small amount of oil-soluble sulfur compounds. The sulfur containing compounds in aged garlic give the supplement its reported benefits in cholesterol levels, heart disease, and cancer.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/524/garlic-is-the-1-herb/
Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:26:50 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-07-22:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/053c7117a4c6c11a1a31420817b3dfd6Bitter Turns Off Sweet!
Four years after discovering that lacto-fermented foods turned off sweet-cravings for our youngest, I came across information giving the science behind the “why”.]]>
Four years after discovering that lacto-fermented foods turned off sweet-cravings for our youngest, I came across information giving the science behind the “why”.

“Taste” science is a relatively new field, with the tongue one of the last great frontiers to be accurately mapped –

“CCK (a chemical messenger – cholecystokinin ) might excite the bitter taste and at the same time inhibit the sweet taste, so the bitter message gets to the brain“…

If you want to curb those cravings for sweets? EATBITTER!!! Traditional Chinese medicine recommends bitter foods, such as arugula, radicchio, endive or chicory. Lactic-acid, generated by lactic-acid bacteria during fermentation, also creates a “bitter” flavor in the form of peptides.

My German grandmother made amazing traditional German kraut and half-sour pickles, and always admonished my cookie-monster cousins, “Vat do you think you need? A cookie? No. I tell you vat you need. You need da pickle!” I didn’t need any such “encouragement” because pickles were my favorite food!

The 3-liter Pickl-It is a perfect pickle-maker. The tight-fitting wire-bail, combined with the Pickl-It airlock, keeps oxygen out of the fermenting chamber, strengthening lactic-acid bacteria which thrive in a no or low-oxygen environment. Happy, healthy lactic-acid bacteria create mildly-bitter, crisp cucumber pickles which go a long way toward curbing those sweet cravings!

Leaky Gut Syndrome – Common to Autism Spectrum Disorders, leaky gut is often associated with AGF (Abnormal Gut Fermentation); restoring the beneficial bacteria gut colonies goes a long way toward correcting this often painful and frustrating condition, see Page 112

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/289/bitter-turns-off-sweet/
Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:41:18 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-12-04:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/4b41ed0c38ca65c812dbf7dfcce23c6cGarlic Chemistry 101
For those who like to dig deeper into the chemistry of food, the post provides a brief overview into garlic’s various benefits, whether heated, raw, or fermented. I try to buy at least 20-lbs of garlic each year (this year shipping it in from an Amish farmer using chemical-free methods) so that I have enough to create every version.]]>
For those who like to dig deeper into the chemistry of food, the post provides a brief overview into garlic’s various benefits, whether heated, raw, or fermented. I try to buy at least 20-lbs of garlic each year (this year shipping it in from an Amish farmer using chemical-free methods) so that I have enough to create every version.

Garlic is well-known as a healing food and a powerful medicine, owing its natural anti-biotic to allicin, an anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. When switching from a standard American diet of processed foods, garlic is useful to detoxing your digestive tract and boosting the immune system. Healing with Whole Food

Fermented garlic – whether in a brine or miso – is our favorite form, because of its versatility. It’s still considered by raw-food enthusiasts to be a raw food. A clove of fermented garlic, added to gently-melted grass-fed butter, changes its chemical properties to yet another venue of health-giving properties.

“A member of the lily or Allium family, which also includes onions, garlic is rich in a variety of powerful sulfur-containing compounds including thiosulfinates (of which the best known compound is allicin), sulfoxides (among which the best known compound is alliin), and dithiins (in which the most researched compound is ajoene). While these compounds are responsible for garlic’s characteristically pungent odor, they are also the source of many of its health-promoting effects. In addition, garlic is an excellent source of manganese, a very good source of vitamin B6 and vitamin C and a good source of selenium.” Whole Foods – Garlic

“Phytotherapy” is the practice of using phytonutrients to cure, heal, etc. Garlic has a wide number of chemical compounds that are still being discovered, identified.

Raw, sliced, whole, and heated garlic all offer different compounds. Some are increased by fermentation. Others are activated when the garlic clove is crushed. Yet others are activated when heated.

SAC, DADS and DATS benefits:

When allicin (a powerful antibiotic and anti-fungal compound naturally occurring in garlic) is fermented, it turns into S-allylcysteine (SAC) which is more easily absorbed by the body.

SAC increases over time – up to 5 years when fermented!!

Compounds in garlic – S-allylcysteine or SAC, and diallyl disulfide or DADS, or diallyl trisulfide (DATS) – have anti-carcinogenic properties.

Kazuko Sakamoto, a Penn State research associate in nutrition, reported that diallyl trisulfide (DATS), a compound in processed garlic oil, slowed the growth of — or even killed — human lung tumor cells grown in culture. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

SAC interfered with the formation of breast tumor cells in rats, while DADS inhibited the growth of human cancer cells (colon, skin, and lung) grown in lab cultures.

DATS to be 10 times as effective as DADS. “Gourmet Garlic” has a well done article here

The effectiveness of DATS was comparable to that of 5-fluorouracil, a widely used chemotherapy agent, Milner says. In addition, while DATS was effective against the lung cancer cells, it was considerably less toxic to healthy cells.

DATS and DADS can be found in ordinary clove garlic.

DATS and DADS are found in garlic oil preparations, which are available (usually in capsule form) in many health food stores.

Deodorized garlic products, on the other hand, typically do not contain DATS and DADS, although they do contain SAC.

Some of the more reader-friendly articles I’ve found on garlic are located:

Gourmet Garlic Gardens – In-depth look at the chemistry of garlic; health benefits as well as interesting information on topic use of garlic as a way to get it into the system faster as well as infusing wine, as another means of speeding it up into the system (since allicin, the key component is usually neutralized or greatly reduced by saliva and the stomach’s digestive enzymes, not necessarily making it into the digestive tract, etc.)

“The antimicrobial activity of Allium is due to volatile sulfur compounds derived from S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine sulfoxides, nonprotein amino acids found in garlic. The main sulfonxides are alliin (s-allyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide is degraded into allicin (allyl 2-propenethiosulfinate.

Alliin (substrate) and alliinase (enzyme) are located in different cells in garlic cloves and therefore the thiosulfinates are generated only after the garlic tissues are injured.

Garlic heated to 121C was found to strongly inhibit the growth of yeasts, but not that of bacteria.

The potency and stability of the antiyeast activity of heated garlic were compared with those of fresh garlic, garlicoil, and allyl isothiocyanate.

The inhibitory activity of heated garlic was stable, and the minimum inhibitory concentration did not change for up to 30d at 37C.

The antiyeast activity of heated garlic was not influenced by pH.

Alliin heated in distilled water showed an antiyeast activity pattern similar to that of heated garlic, suggesting that the compound(s) thermally generated from alliin are the principal antiyeast compound(s) of heated garlic.

The antiyeast activity was increased as time of heating increased up to 45 min at 121C, and the activity did not change when garlic was further heated for up to 120 min.”

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/421/garlic-chemistry-101/
Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:13:30 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-03-13:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/897810dd86de8b4421b1d053b95e0151Pepper Nutrition Facts
Peppers are the right food for people seeking a healthy, nutritious diet. Low in calories, high in Vitamins A and C, peppers are also high in a very important mineral – potassium. ]]>
Fermentation not only greatly improves the flavor of peppers, but also –

“…is a preservation process which greatly increases the shelf life and decreases the need for refrigeration or other form of food preservation technology. It also benefits digestion in that microbial enzymes break down carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and other food components, can improve food digestion in the human gastrointestinal tract and thus increase nutrient uptake“ (Adams and Nout, 2001).

Lacto-fermention of peppers break the sugars down during fermenting, making nutrients more widely available, and creating natural probiotics, so that lacto-fermented peppers are actually a digestive aid!

Peppers are the right food for people seeking a healthy, nutritious diet. Low in calories, high in Vitamins A and C, peppers are also high in a very important mineral – potassium.

One cup of raw sweet green peppers contains 22 calories. For comparison a cup of cucumber is 16, cottage cheese is 223 and whole orange is about 41 calories.

A red sweet or hot pepper contains about ten times more vitamin A and double the amount of Vitamin C than an immature green pepper.

Whether green or red a pepper contains more Vitamin C than a whole orange which contains only about 50 milligrams.

For potassium rich foods, an average banana contains 370 milligrams and a cup of green sweet pepper has 213 mg raw and 149 mg if boiled before being eaten.

When preparing them, remember that the heat – or capsaicin – they contain can be controlled by removing the inner seeds and membrane for a milder pepper, or leaving the insides for a hotter pepper.

When working with hot peppers, it is best to wear gloves, and do not touch your face; eyes, nose, and mouth. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water when done._

The body’s strong reaction to capsaicin is why many people claim chili has medicinal properties. A paper by a New Mexico biologist noted that the death rate from heart disease in the state was about half the national rate. She also said the rate of heart disease among Hispanics and Indians was low. Presumed reason? They all eat lots of chile pepper and that reduces blood fat levels. Hot peppers are said to protect against blood clots that could cause thromboembolism.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/408/pepper-nutrition-facts/
Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:07:12 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-02-27:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/7764d584cebbcfd249c716750baaa11fBut, what about botulism?
Folks who grew up using modern high-heat canning methods, preserving the garden’s bounty, often ask, “But what about botulism”, when we explain lacto-fermentation.]]>
Folks who preserve their garden’s bounty using modern high-heat canning methods, are accustomed to receiving a crop of warnings, generated by county and university extension agents, about dangers of botulism – a toxin excreted by the otherwise harmless, C. botulinum – in improperly canned foods, when one or more of the following conditions exist:

To ensure food “safety”, high-heat processing kills all microbial life – good or bad.

Lacto-fermentation, on the other hand, encourages the growth of beneficial microbes, utilizing optimum temperatures in the 68 to 72F range.

Where high-heat processing results in dead matter, lacto-fermented foods create a thriving community of beneficial microbes and chemicals, including a powerful natural-defense system against toxins and putrefying bacteria.

“Microbes may be the most significant life form sharing this planet with humans, because of their pervasive presence and their utilization of any available food source. Depending on the food source, microbes may have either beneficial roles in maintaining life or undesirable roles in causing human, animals and plant disease.” – Samuel Brown, MD

The Pickl-It was designed to create a healthy, anaerobic environment needed by lactic-acid bacteria. Happy, healthy lactic-acid bacteria, create good amounts of lactic-acid, key to the demise of botulism and other toxins.

U.S. Department of Agriculture research service microbiologist, Fred Breidt, says –

…“properly fermented vegetables are actually safer than raw vegetables, which might have been exposed to pathogens like E. coli on the farm. With fermented products there is no safety concern. I can flat-out say that. The reason is the lactic acid bacteria that carry out the fermentation are the world’s best killers of other bacteria.”

Breidt works at a lab at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, where scientists have been studying fermentation microbiology since the 1930s.

“Breidt adds that fermented vegetables, for which there are no documented cases of food-borne illness, are safer for novices to make than canned vegetables.” San Francisco Gate Interview, June, 2009

Pasteurized, canned food is not only nutrient-dead, but defenseless, lacking all the advantages of traditional lacto-fermentation. To get started making your own nutrient-dense, living-food, order Pickl-It, here.

From Poison to Healing – Modern botulinum toxin treatment was pioneered by Alan B. Scott and Edward J. Schantz in the early 1970s, when the type-A serotype was used in medicine to correct strabismus. To date, the toxin has been used to treat a wide variety of conditions associated with muscular hyperactivity, glandular hypersecretions and pain.

Ohio EDU – Botulism is the name of the food poisoning we get consuming the toxin of Clostridium botulinum. Botulism was formerly known as “Kerner’s Disease.” It was named after the man who signed the death certificate of people who ate contaminated sausage and died in an outbreak in Germany.

There was an an increase in botulism during the Depression, as well as the 1970s, when there were tough economic times and people turned to home-canning. To date, we know of seven types of Clostridium botulinum bacteria. They all have different characteristics, which gives us information as to how they grow, as well as how they can be neutralized.

Botulism: proteolytic type A, B and F strains – produce very heat-resistant spores which are a major concern in the processing of low-acid foods. These types digest proteins in foods and produce a foul odor that may warn Consumers of spoilage.

Botulism: nonproteolytic type B, E and F strains – can grow at refrigerated temperatures, but produce spores of very low heat resistance. These types cause problems primarily in pasteurized or unheated foods. Because they are nonproteolytic, no off-odor or evidence of spoilage may be produced with toxin development._

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/342/what-about-botulism/
Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:18:26 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2010-01-05:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/d0b930726596f50b17c5fa5f36445fc3Salting Cabbage in North Carolina & Scotland
In doing some research, I ran across a couple of interesting public-domain articles mentioning dry-preserving vegetables in salt. The first is a photo from the University of North Carolina, from a food history collection showing men and women in 1917, packing barrels of cabbage. I’ll have to research what the differences are between “kraut in light salt” and “cabbage in brine”. I’d always assumed cabbage in brine was called kraut!]]>

Photo Caption: “CONSERVINGCABBAGE IN NORTHCAROLINA” – More than 1,000 pounds of cabbage were put up by these women in three ways—kraut in light salt; kraut in heavy salt, and cabbage in brine, or pickled cabbage Used with permission – Food Conservation in North Carolina.

I ran across a couple of interesting public-domain articles mentioning dry-preserving vegetables in salt. The first is from the University of North Carolina, food-photo history collection showing men and women in 1917, packing barrels of cabbage – “kraut in light salt” and “cabbage in brine”. I’d always assumed only cabbage in brine was called kraut!

Another public domain piece, “Home and Farm Food Preservation” book, posted on Electric Scotland has some interesting recipes using a great deal more salt than our modern recipes. Any of their recipes, by the way, could be made in the Pickl-It system.

Given the amount of salt used in their recipes, it appears that today’s people have a low salt-tolerance, but crave sugar, where it seems the opposite was true several generations ago.

Speaking of salt, this article suggests buying and using dairy salt from the feed store, using it to preserve vegetables. There’s no doubt bulk salt would be more economical, but modern bulk feed-salt may have additives that weren’t included in salt sold decades ago. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so skip their advice, and instead use only unrefined sea salt meant for human consumption.

One last note – the article mentions that salted (lacto-fermented) vegetables retain more “fresh vegetable flavor and odor than will canned vegetables.” They will also retain far more nutrients than canned vegetables which lose a large percentage during the high-heat canning process. For further study, salt information.

Enjoy!

Home and Farm Food Preservation
Food Preservation Recipes
Chapter XXXII – Recipes for Preservation of Vegetables by Salt or Fermentation

Vegetables may be preserved by heavy salting with dry salt, by storage in strong brine and by fermentation in a weak brine or in the presence of a small amount of salt. Recipes for the use of all three methods are given.

If the salting is carefully done, the salted vegetables will be very attractive in flavor and appearance. They will possess more of the fresh vegetable flavor and odor than will canned vegetables.

The principles of preservation of vegetables by salt will be found in Chap. XVI, pars. 96 and 97. A knowledge of these principles will be of great assistance in carrying out the directions given in the recipes.

Preservation of Vegetables by Dry Salt

1. Slice or shred the vegetables and weigh. String beans are prepared and broken as for cooking.

2. Weigh 1 lb. of salt to each 4 lbs. of vegetables. Place a layer of the salt in the bottom of a crock or barrel or wooden tub. Do not use metal containers. Build the sliced or broken vegetables and salt up in alternate layers until the container is full. Cover last layer of vegetables with a layer of salt.

3. Place a false wooden head small enough to fit inside the container on top of the mixture. Place a heavy weight on this head. Leave until the liquid is forced out of the vegetables and they are immersed in the brine formed by their own juice and the salt. This will be in about 2 weeks.

4. Remove the false head and weight and seal with paraffin to prevent evaporation of the liquid.

5. The vegetables will keep indefinitely and retain much of the original appearance and flavor of the fresh vegetables. To use them, soak in a large volume of water overnight; for example, by suspending them in a cheesecloth bag near the surface of a large pot of water. Or parboil to remove salt. Then cook and prepare for the table in the usual ways.

Preservation of Vegetables in Strong Brine

1. Prepare a brine of 3 1/2 lbs. of salt per gallon of water. Immerse the whole vegetables in this and keep them submerged by means of a wooden float. Do not use metal containers. This method is especially good for peppers, artichokes, cauliflower and other vegetables not readily preserved by the dry salting process.

2. If the vegetables show mold or fermentation at any time add more salt. They will keep better if the container is sealed with paraffin.

3. Mix the salt and cabbage very thoroughly in a stoneware crock or wooden container. Place a false head on the cabbage. A wooden head to fit inside the container may be made or a plate may be used for small amounts of material in a crock. Place a heavy weight on the false head (do not use limestone because it is acted upon by the sauerkraut).

4. Leave in a warm place. The juice of the cabbage soon forms a brine. Fermentation will soon start and foam will appear. After about three weeks the kraut should have the desired flavor. When a scum appears, skim it off. If this scum is left undisturbed, it may completely spoil the product.

5. When fermentation ceases and the kraut has developed the proper flavor, it may be kept by sealing it over with paraffin. A better way is to heat it to boiling and pack boiling hot in jars. Sterilize 1/2 hour in a wash-boiler sterilizer at 212° F. and seal. It will then keep indefinitely.

Preservation of String Beans, Beets, and Greens by Fermentation

1. String and break the beans into lengths as for cooking. They should be small and tender. Peel the beets and slice. Trim greens as for cooking for the table.

2. Weigh the vegetables and for each 10 lbs. of vegetables weigh out 1/2 lb. of cooking or dairy salt. Mix vegetables and salt intimately in a crock or barrel. Place false wooden cover and heavy weight on the material. Leave in warm place. The juice of the vegetables will form a brine in which fermentation will take place. The fermentation should be done in 3 weeks.

3. Seal with a thick layer of melted paraffin.

4. Whenever the container is opened to remove material for cooking, it should be resealed again with paraffin.

2. Wash the vegetables and drain off the surplus moisture. Pack in a keg or crock or other utensil until nearly full (within about 3 in. of the top). Prepare a weak brine as follows: To each gallon of water used, add 1/2 pint of vinegar and 3/4 cup of salt and stir until salt is entirely dissolved. The amount of brine necessary to cover the vegetables will be equal to about one-half the volume of the vegetables.

3. Pour the brine over the vegetables to cover them and keep them submerged by means of a wooden cover. Leave in a warm place until fermentation is over.

4. Remove to a cool place and seal with melted paraffin. If mold has formed, skim it off before sealing. Dill and spices may be added to the brine if desired, when it is poured oil vegetables. Vegetables prepared in this way have a sour taste.

Dill Pickles

1. Wash the cucumbers. Prepare a crock or keg, barrel or wooden bucket. Do not use metal.

2. Place a layer of dill plant in the bottom of the container and a small quantity of mixed “dill pickle spices.” These may be obtained from a grocery. Place two or three layers of cucumbers on these spices and dill plant. Add another layer of dill plant and spices and two or three layers of cucumbers, repeating the alternation of layers until the container is almost full.

3. Cover with a layer of beet leaves or grape leaves at least 1 in. thick. Fill and cover with a brine made of 1 lb. of salt, 10 qts. of water and 2/3 qt. of vinegar.

5. If large barrels are used the barrels may be headed up after filling with the cucumbers and spice and then filled with a brine, made as above. Leave the bunghole open. When fermentation is over the barrel may be completely filled with the brine and the bunghole closed.

6. Dill pickles may be kept indefinitely by heating to boiling in the brine in which they are made and sealing boiling hot in glass top jars.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/320/salting-cabbage-north-carolina-scotland/
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:18:21 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-12-18:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/841236125af322ed71d4a9b0d24566f0Lacto-Fermented Foods Turn Off Sugar Cravings!
Intuitively, I knew the bitter flavor of the pickle had somehow rebooted or satisfied my son’s carb-cravings. How, or why, was a mystery, but from that point on, every meal began with bites of bitter flavors – blue cheese bits, salads with grapefruit segments and lemon-oil dressing, olives, and home-made half-sour pickles…. ]]>
When our youngest joined our family at the age 11-months, he was developmentally the equivalent of a 2-month-old baby.

We spent months teaching basic skills – rolling over, holding food, chewing food, crawling, sitting up, pulling himself to his feet, and eventually walking – made more difficult because he hated being touched.

He didn’t speak – not until the age of four – but instead, screamed his way through life at ear-splitting, decibel-defying levels, at anything, everything and nothing. Numerous tests and doctors confirmed he experienced auditory and visual hallucinations.

The most challenging hurdles involved chewing and swallowing food, tasks that seemed to terrify and frustrate him.

Dinnertime Destruction

Our once quiet, peaceful dinners became a battleground, reminiscent of scenes from the 1962 version of The Miracle Worker.

Helen had meltdowns. My son had meltdowns.

Helen threw food and raged. My son swiped plates and bowls off the dinner table, sending them crashing to the floor.

While we were distracted, cleaning the mess, he’d often catapult his body across the table, grabbing handfuls of food from the surviving dishes, stuffing his mouth to the point of choking. Other times, he “pocketed” food in his cheeks, staring defiantly into the air, avoiding eye contact, ignoring all requests to “please swallow or spit it out.”

Looking for Clues

I felt more detective than mother, spending my time reading clues, studying patterns of which foods he accepted or rejected. He clearly communicated food preferences, jumping up and down in front of the food-pantry, air-grabbing the out-of-reach cereal labeled, ““Healthy! Organic! Made From Whole Grains!”

Increasingly, he developed “self-limiting” eating behavior, fairly common to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Only those foods that were “brown” – bread, cereal, pasta, crackers – were acceptable to him. He threw everything else to the floor, or ignored its presence.

Simple carbs! He was a sugarholic!

During one of his food-stuffing suffocating, choking sprees, he’d packed his face, to-the-max, with bread. Digging it out of his mouth, a few wayward crumbs fell onto his clothing and chair. As I bent down to collect them, he let loose with a record-breaking scream, directly into my ear.

Blinded and deafened, lightning bolts of pain searing through my brain, I bowed down over the kitchen table, planting my hands on its hard surface for support. I gradually realized my right hand was grasping strange, bumpy objects. A platter of whole dill pickles! I’d fished them out of a large wooden-barrel, just a few hours earlier, while visiting a local meat market. “Old-fashioned, cured, just like Grandma made”, the sign over the barrel read.

Glancing at my son, I impulsively, grabbed one of the pickles, plugging his gaping mouth a split-second before he let loose with another ear-shattering scream.

Effective!

The tears immediately stopped flowing (so did his). Wide-eyed, he quietly removed the pickle, examined it, then returned it to his mouth, chomping off a large chunk, alligator-style. An angelic expression descended over his face – a sweet face – a face I was seeing for the very first time.

The rest of the family watched, too exhausted to eat, while he happily polished off the pickle – without raging, projectile vomiting, over-stuffing his mouth, gagging or choking. To everyone’s amazement, he made happy-smacking noises, then scooped up and finished off every speck of food from his plate.

We had witnessed a miracle.

I knew, intuitively, the bitter flavor of the pickle had somehow rebooted or satisfied his cravings. How, or why, was a mystery, but from that point on, every meal began with bites of bitter flavors – blue cheese bits, salads with grapefruit segments and lemon-oil dressing, olives, and home-made half-sour pickles.

And he ate! Without fuss! Two months of consistently providing him with a wide-range of bitter, as well as lacto-fermented foods, he took my hand, leading me to the food-pantry. Pointing at the top shelf, where I’d hidden the last remaining box of “healthy” cereal, he said, “Bad!”

“Would you like me to throw them out?”, I asked. He nodded, watching as I purged it from the shelf. Several years later, he articulated strong memories of how the processed food made him feel “crazy – like bugs were crawling in his brain”, but the pickles made him feel “at peace and happy.”

There are about 10,000 taste buds on your tongue right now. Each one has a receptor that reacts to different substances and makes it possible for you to taste the foods you eat. There are five elements of taste: sour, bitter, salty, savory, and sweet. But did you know you can desensitize your taste buds?

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Removing processed, dead-nutrient food, replacing it with living, nutrient-dense food is best done step-by-step. We lose what we don’t use – the ability to digest real food, in addition to tasting it – so it’s important to go slowly, not overwhelming yourself, but instead, creating a plan. One week, replace your dairy products with local grass-fed products, and the next week or two after that, remove all baker’s yeast breads. Just go through your kitchen, making a list of all processed foods, as well as checking labels, and come up with a timeline of what needs to be thrown, and when. In the meantime, find local health-food stores, as well as checking out your local national chain grocery stores. Many of them are finally adding organic products, as well as grass-fed meats – a huge improvement!

Sometimes, especially when switching over to real dairy, meat and lacto-fermented vegetables, the most difficult part is that real food does tastes much different from salty, sugary, dead-foods. Give yourself time, and most important of all, give your body time to heal and for your digestive tract to adjust.

Are You Killing Your Taste Buds With Processed Foods?
by Jason Yun

There are about 10,000 taste buds on your tongue right now. Each one has a receptor that reacts to different substances and makes it possible for you to taste the foods you eat. There are five elements of taste: sour, bitter, salty, savory, and sweet. But did you know you can desensitize your taste buds?

It’s true! That’s why when people try and switch over to an average ‘healthy’ diet from an average American diet they can’t do it. Well, most of the people can’t do it. The reason why is that these people are so used to adding stuff to their foods, or eating highly processed, sugar-loaded, fat-loaded, grease-loaded, overall-bad-for-you types of foods. This literally is killing your taste buds!

I am a firm believer in the power of food to keep you healthy. People that eat better are healthier and sick a whole lot less. Some people just think that if they get sick they can just get a prescription and feel better—but why waste the money?

Over the years I have developed some ways to make my food taste better, which is an important trick in eating healthy. But a lot of people think that to lose body fat, or lose weight that they need to follow a super strict diet that bodybuilders use to get super lean for a contest. The typical meal plan consists of plain grilled chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, oatmeal, plain lean steak, canned tuna, and protein shakes. I’ve even known some bodybuilders who eat their oatmeal dry with absolutely nothing. Yuk!

This is an absolute disaster if you are not a bodybuilder and have a life. The diet is much too boring and plain. I can’t even do it, and I have tried.

So what do you do?

Well, like anything you need to have patience when moving from a ‘crap’ diet to a natural, healthy diet. Slowly but surely you need to reduce your foods that have the extra sugars, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrups. Watch the foods that have the added trans fats (anything listed with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated). Some foods will surprise you what they have in them, so be sure to read the ingredients list.

All this extra stuff added to your food or drinks are taking away from the natural ability of your taste buds to taste real, natural, healthy foods.

I use natural peanut butter as an example. This is one of my favorite foods and I eat it everyday. It’s one of the healthiest sources of good fats you can get. But a lot of people, including me, hated the taste once I switched from the Jif/Peter Pan (fake) type peanut butters. But if you stick with it you grow to love this food. It usually only takes one jar of the natural peanut butter to get used to it, but it’s worth it. It’s just a process of re-acclimating your taste buds to natural, unprocessed foods.

Again, switching from these added flavors will take time, so don’t be all gung ho and try to make the switch in a week, or even a month. You probably grew up on these types of foods, which is why it will be harder to make the switch. But the sooner you do the better it will be for you. You will be healthier, and you will feel better— because those unnatural types of foods are slowly killing you. Food is a drug, and the food companies know what is most addictive. All that added stuff is destroying your liver and other organs, and causing a roller coaster effect with some of the hormones in your body.

Try making 1 change a week. If you are using sweetener in your coffee/tea, lighten it up a little each week until you taste the natural flavors. If you use a lot of salt in your cooking, try making the switch to some healthy spices/herbs. Make the switch from cakes, pastries and sweets to all natural tasty fruits. The hard part is starting—so just ‘go for it!’

Jason Yun, a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Sports Nutritionist, is a Columbus fitness bootcamp and weight management teacher. To book him to speak at your local Columbus organization please contact him by email at jyun@yunbootcamps.com or by phone at 614-432-9703. For a free 2-week trial to his Bootcamps go to: http://www.yuntraining.com/columbusbootcamp.html or http://www.yunnutrition.com/contact.html

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/50/killing-taste-buds-processed-foods/
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:55:44 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-07-29:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/a15e03842d41d8c3eee14147caebdaeaImproved Iron Solubility in Fermented Carrot Juice
While the following research was performed in a laboratory with very controlled conditions, the information we can glean from this is that lactic-acid fermentation improves carrots – ]]>
While the following research was performed in a laboratory with very controlled conditions, the information we can glean from this is that lactic-acid fermentation improves carrots –

Increases availability of iron

Increases mineral availability

Decreases phytic-acid which is an anti-nutrient

This type of change and increase in nutrient availability is standard across all ferments, yet again confirming what nutritional experts have been saying, lacto-fermented foods are a necessary and vital part of our daily diet!

Received 20 January 2004; accepted 30 April 2004. Available online 24 August 2004.
Abstract

To evaluate lactic acid fermentation as a means to increase the availability of iron in carrot juice, two strains (Lactobacillus pentosus FSC1 and Leuconostoc mesenteroides FSC2), two types of carrot juice and two modes of fermentation were compared. Fermentation improved iron solubility up to 30 fold. The total mineral content and the yield of soluble iron differed between the two types of juice.
Addition of pectolytic enzyme and cellulase further improved iron solubility in fermented juice by about 10%. L. pentosus FSC1 yielded the largest improvement in soluble iron, which was not simply a result of a decrease in pH. The concentration of soluble iron in Ln. mesenteroides FSC2 fermentation was linearly related to the major acids produced. Besides, the mineral inhibitor phytate was completely degraded in all the fermentations.

Lactic acid fermentation strongly improves iron solubility in carrot juice. The level of improvement was strain specific and related to the produced acids rather than a simple pH effect. Composition of carrot juice and addition of viscosity-reducing enzymes also contributed to this improvement. Our study suggests that carrot juice with high mineral availability may be achieved by fermentation using selected starter cultures, substrate and process.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/45/improved-iron-solubility-fermented-carrot-juice/
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:20:30 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-07-29:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/6b9aab6f15c0858dfaa51287e3127f69Love Food? Love History!
Before there were kings and queens, emperors and rulers, food was already making history. ]]>
Before there were kings and queens, emperors and rulers, food was already making history. From the very beginning, fermented foods played an important role, providing healthy vegetables during lean, cold winter months, which were not only nutritionally-dense, but also naturally-made probiotics! Fermented foods are easy to digest, as well as aiding digestion of other foods.

Here are but a few online articles which are also great for science or history unit studies for the children!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/30/love-food-love-history/
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:16:26 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-07-26:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/aeec508ee99d28ffc6c71d9f6b8a13feIncrease Eating Raw Foods (and like it, too!)
When I sat down and read through Nourishing Traditions, front-to-back, I began seeing “raw” foods in a different light. Raw was more than carrot sticks and unbaked nut crusts. It was lovely grass-fed raw milk, and butter made from raw milk, as well as the entire-range of Pickl-It lacto-fermented foods that we loved! ]]>
“It is easier to change a man’s religion than to change his diet.” – Margaret Mead

NT and WAPF’s views were familiar to us – they talked our kind of “food-talk”, focusing on good old-fashioned bone-broths, meat & potato-style dinners, “normal” vegetables and side-dishes like baked beans.

We were intrigued by the emphasis they placed on condiments and side-dishes – sauerkraut, cucumber pickles, pickled beets – all of which were common mealtime foods during our Midwest childhoods. This was the part of NT & WAPF that set them apart, making them intriguingly unique, as well as, “traditional”.

We didn’t have to “change” our diet!! What could be better!

Our enthusiasm screeched to a halt, though, when we read a comment by Sally Fallon, co-author of “Nourishing Traditions”, suggesting at least 30% of the daily-diet should be raw-food based.

Visions of chicken-pot pies were replaced with an endless, tiring parade of carrot sticks, broccoli and cauliflower florets, as well as raw-nut pie crusts.

There was no way we’d ever stick with it!

Raw Food is Nutrient-Dense Living-Food

Continuing to read through “Nourishing Traditions”, it became clear that my view of “raw” was too narrow! I’d been thinking that heat-treated foods – baked, steamed, boiled, fried, poached, blanched, par-boiled, simmered – were the classic definition of “raw”. Food we eat on a regular basis, fitting that definition, include:

Lettuce Salads with a wide-range of raw vegetable toppings

Rice Salads (okay, that’s cooked) loaded with raw, chopped veggies!

Grass-fed raw milk (not pasteurized!)

Kefir

Butter made from grass-fed raw milk

Fruit

That wasn’t enough to get us up to the recommended 30% level.

But, I discovered there is a huge range of foods that ARE considered to be raw:

Not only are lacto-fermented foods, such as, sauerkraut considered “raw”, but the nutrition is more easily available and digestible! Raw-food lovers list the following health benefits of lacto-fermented foods:

Mary Poppins may have used a spoonful of sugar to make the “medicine” go down, but fermented foods are a better real-life strategy, letting “Food be your medicine”, as urged by Hippocrates, the “father” of medicine.

Pickl-It lacto-fermented food system makes it easy for you to create a wide-range of your own favorite “raw” foods, with glass fermenting containers ranging from condiments to large-batches of sauerkraut.

You just might eat more healthy “raw” food than you think! Be sure to count the lacto-fermented foods, including all vegetables, miso, traditional soy, fish sauce, kefir, aged cheese, nuts, fresh fruit, yogurt, cultured cream, just to name a few!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/203/increase-eating-raw-foods/
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:21:30 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-10-15:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/8270fe96be14001fb948b525828704c1Is Sauerkraut a Wonder Food?Yes! And in more ways than one, because when people experience the many healthy benefits of home-made, lacto-fermented sauerkraut, they wonder why it took them so long to try it! ]]>

Yes! And in more ways than one, because when people experience the many healthy benefits of home-made, lacto-fermented sauerkraut, they wonder why it took them so long to try it!

The cookbook, “A Passion for Sauerkraut”, written by Samuel Hofer, details some other reasons why sauerkraut is a “wonder” food:

Finnish researchers reported that fermenting cabbage produces compounds known as isothiocyanates, shown in laboratory studies to prevent the growth of cancer. Fermentation or curing of the cabbage actually enhances its protective effects. Glucosinolates in sauerkraut activate the body’s antioxidant enzymes, and flavonoids protect artery walls from oxidative damage.

“We are finding that fermented cabbage could be healthier than raw or cooked cabbage, especially for fighting cancer,” says Eeva-Liisa Ryhanen, Ph.D., research manager of MTT Agrifood Research Finland, located in Jokioinen, Finland.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, especially those rich in naturally occurring substances, including antioxidants, flavonoids and vitamins.

Sauerkraut is Rich in Nutrition

In addition to the very important isothiocyanates, mentioned in the Finnish study, lacto-fermented sauerkraut offers a wide-range of lactobacilli probiotics, and nutrients including manganese, Vitamin B6, folate, and Vitamin C.

Seafaring explorers, fearing the debilitating effects of scurvy, relied on sauerkraut’s Vitamin C, finding kraut much more shelf-stable than fragile, perishable citrus fruit. Our youngest, who deals with some ever-decreasing Autism-Spectrum issues, is vulnerable to mold and fungus allergies, so we avoid oranges or orange juice because they’re known to carry fungus. Sauerkraut is our food-of-choice when it comes to providing natural Vitamin C!

Have Fun & Experiment!

Making your own sauerkraut not only gives you a far superior product, but you can have fun experimenting with different flavors!

Add shredded carrots, beets, or mix varieties of cabbage, including the standard “white” along with red cabbage. Garlic, onions and apples, and caraway seeds (great digestive aids!) are some our favorites.

Fall was traditionally when pork went to market, so grilling smoked pork chops, and serving them with a side of flavorful sauerkraut is a long-running family tradition – one more way of creating good food and good family memories for our own children!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/202/sauerkraut-wonder-food/
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:57:14 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-10-15:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/c5ddfabc0595f7a244974b2cbda1e91eWhat's Good for the Gut Is Good for the....Complexion?
Not only did the Ancient Greeks and Romans recognize the importance of eating cabbage, but also of applying its leaves and juices (sauerkraut!) to their skin, a technique still popular today for natural skin care. Throughout ancient literature, cabbage is reported to moisturize, reduce wrinkles, remove blemishes, tone-down freckles, and whiten gray skin tones.]]>

While the ancient Greeks didn’t have a knowledge of microbes or orthomolecular biology, both of which are relatively new to us, they had something even more valuable. Their intense, intimate awareness that food was their medicine – promoted by Hippocrates, the “father” of medicine – is well-documented in the writings of their philosophers.

Around 370 BC, Chrysippus of Cnidus (Χρύσιππος ο Κνίδιος) a key contributor to the Cnidian center of medical instruction, wrote a food treatise, “On Pleasure and the Good”, noting the health-promoting properties of cabbage.

This vegetable was so highly regarded by the ancients, that Chrysippus and Dieuches, two physicians, each wrote books on the properties of this plant, as well as Pythagoras and Cato, the latter of whom in later times amply set forth the praises of this pot-herb.

It is related, that the ancient Romans, having expelled physicians out of their territories, preserved their health for six hundred years, and soothed their infirmities by using and applying this vegetable [cabbage] as their only medicine in every disease. History of Cultivated Vegetables

Not only did the Ancient Greeks and Romans recognize the importance of eating cabbage, but also of applying its leaves and juices (sauerkraut!) to their skin, a technique still popular today for natural skin care. Throughout ancient literature, cabbage is reported to moisturize, reduce wrinkles, remove blemishes, tone-down freckles, and whiten gray skin tones.

Anti-Aging Mask – Finely slice (mandolin is best) 4 oz raw cabbage; gently press for 5-minutes with a wooden pestle or mallet, releasing juices. After 5-minutes, add 1/3-cup unpasteurized, unsweetened apple juice and 1 teaspoon almond oil. Gently spread the mask over face (yes, will be messy, so lie back with a towel behind your head to catch the juice, or better yet, do this in an empty bathtub). Leave mask on for 20-minutes. Wash with cold water.

Beauty From the Inside Out – Ann Louise Gittleman, M.S., C.N.S., former director of nutrition at the renowned Pritikin Longevity Center and a leading nutritionist, recommends sauerkraut as part of important skin nutrition.

In every corner of the globe, knowledge and techniques of the “pickling” process – also known as brine-cured, fermented, lacto-fermented, cultured and aged – were learned through the immersion of the senses. There were no recipe cards or books that were as precise or instructive, as the familiar complex flavors, mouth-watering aromas, and textures of perfectly aged foods, created using small-batch, artisan-style pickling methods. The senses of seeing, touching, smelling and tasting were the trusted standards of knowledge, passed from one generation to the next.

Centuries-old traditions of the seasonal rhythm of planting, growing, harvesting and preserving – the ancient paths of survival – continue to exist in some parts of the world today. Koreans still cherish their kimchi, Japanese have their traditionally-aged soy sauce, and much of Europe values several forms of sauerkraut. Eating naturally-cured sausage in parts of Italy, is to taste the foods of generations past.

For most modern societies, however, processed food lured people away from traditions, its promise of more free-time, an easier life, as well as flavors “Just Like Mom’s Food!” too tempting to resist.

“In another generation the woman who knows how to make bread or an apple pie will be as distinct as a dodo.“ – Carrie Chapman Catt, “An Eight-Hour Day for the Housewife – Why Not?”, Pictorial Review (Nov 1928)

Thankfully, we’re not yet there! Today, more than any other time in the past 200 years, people are turning back to the ancient paths of food, reclaiming lacto-fermentation techniques. While many people have never seen real sauerkraut being made, or are familiar with its flavor – we may be two, three, even four generations removed from such experiences – recapturing the skills are still within our reach!

Thanks to the teaching organization, Weston Price Foundation, Slow Food and books like “Nourishing Traditions”, as well as “Wild Fermentation”, children are standing next to parents, learning time-honored traditions, enjoying the incomparable benefits of lacto-fermented foods.

Pickl-It has paired the basic *Salt + Water = Lacto-fermentation” – formula with high-quality toxic-free components that take little more than loading, locking and walking away. No fuss! No muss! Great taste, made easy!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/158/reclaiming-real-food/
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:02:54 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-09-24:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/e5b5f883fb8ccb05427698a2405ca52dDilled Carrots Are Tasty and Healthy!
Not only do these fermented carrots have a refreshing, “clean” flavor, but a little research shows they offer numerous health benefits.]]>
Carrots fermented with fresh dill weed, have been proclaimed by my 9-year-old chef-in-training, to be “the very, very best, EVER!” Great as a side-salad, sandwich filling, or topping for a mixed-greens salad, the brine is also wonderful, used as a simple salad dressing!

Not only do these fermented carrots have a refreshing, “clean” flavor, but a little research shows they offer numerous health benefits.

While the carrot has been falsely accused of containing too much sugar (glycemic index is only 47), fermenting further reduces the sugar’s impact.

Fermented carrots have more nutritional fiber than wheat bran, something that food researchers are just now realizing they need to study, instead of focusing on grains.

Microbiology research has shown that lactic acid fermented carrots have an increase in the availability of iron, improving iron solubility up to 30 fold.

As with other lactic acid fermented food, the rate of digestion and absorption is slowed down, allowing the digestive process more time to extract nutrients.

When digestion and absorption are slowed down, there’s the added benefit of being “full”, reducing over-eating.

A Swedish study fermented-carrot-juice showed that the mineral inhibitor, phytate, was completely degraded during the lacto-fermentation process.

Don’t forget your pets! Our poodle and parrots are extremely enthusiastic about these carrots. Fermented foods are very important for pets, helping them to maintain a health balance of beneficial microbes, just like us!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/53/dilled-carrots-tasty-healthy/
Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:22:55 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-07-31:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/136138d10f0e7c0c341fb002921adcdaWhat are the health benefits of lactic-acid bacteria (LAB) food?
Since the advent of modern food-processing, auto-immune and inflammatory diseases have reached epidemic levels. Where people once thrived on natural, spontaneous, fermented foods, those who have instead turned their health over to factory-produced dead-nutrient, processed foods are now suffering from a wide range of inflammatory disease, lactose and food intolerance disorders. ]]>

The flora in the human gut constitute an extremely complex living system that aggressively protects your body from outside offenders.

The average American also eats far too many sugars, some 175 pounds per year, feeding the unhealthy bacteria, which stimulate disease.

Since the advent of modern food-processing, auto-immune and inflammatory diseases have reached epidemic levels. Where people once thrived on natural, spontaneous, fermented foods, those who have instead turned their health over to factory-produced dead-nutrient, processed foods, are now suffering from a wide range of inflammatory disease, lactose and food intolerance disorders.

Scientists are finally beginning to understand how lacto-fermented traditional foods help modern health issues. Take cod liver oil…

“Vitamins A and D and the Omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids in the cod liver oil, helped keep people healthy. It was often said that the cod liver oil makers and other people that took a lot of cod liver oil were seemingly never ill.”Norwegian Fishing Village Museum

Cod liver oil was created when the livers, stored in vats, were fermented in the summer heat, causing their healthy oil to rise to the top where it was skimmed and bottled. Scientists have discovered that cod liver oil fatty acids cause the “switching off” of a recently-discovered enzyme that causes much of the pain and inflammation in arthritis – the Cyclooxygenase-2 – responsible for the biosynthesis of chemicals which cause inflammation. The key lactic-acid bacteria involved in the fermentation of cod liver oil are Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus sakei.

Other strains of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, in natural, spontaneous, lacto-fermented foods, offer other health benefits, including:

Inhibit pathogens, such as E. coli or Clostridium perfringens

Prevent diarrhea caused by (rota)virus or Salmonella

Reduce effects (or eliminates) Candida infection

Restore mucous lining of the “gut”

Stimulate immune system

Kidney stone development may be decreased by improving the “gut” flora because probiotic bacteria has been shown to neutralize oxalate, one of the risks for developing kidney stones. (California Dairy Research Foundation and Dairy and Food Culture Technologies)

Release vitamins, minerals and enzymes from foods, making them readily-available

Destroy wide-range of natural and synthetic toxins in raw foods

Increase defecation, reducing constipation

Break down sugars, starches and lactose for easier digestion

Pancreas, liver, kidney are less stressed

Help in the relief of anxiety and depression (enzymes play a huge role in gut-serotonin production!)

Create beneficial fiber that is more compatible with digestive tract

All lacto-fermented foods have different strains or ratios of lactic-acid bacteria, and each of them is crucial to good health. For a well-balanced diet, be sure to eat a wide-range of fermented foods. Considering how many there are to choose from? Variety shouldn’t be a problem!

Pickl-It makes it fun and easy to always have batches of your favorite probiotics on-hand!

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/162/health-benefits-lactic-acid-bacteria-food/
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:25:33 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-09-27:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/b83e1cc5a8926f4208ee9c96a396030dKimchi is a Happy Food“Kimchi is a happy and cheerful food and more than a hundred different types of kimchi offer something to appeal to every personality and taste. The Koreans build kimchi awareness with humor, for example, they say “smile with kimchi’s sound!”, instead of “cheese!” when they are taking photographs.“]]>
“Kimchi is a happy and cheerful food and more than a hundred different types of kimchi offer something to appeal to every personality and taste. The Koreans build kimchi awareness with humor, for example, they say “smile with kimchi’s sound!”, instead of “cheese!” when they are taking photographs.“

Kimchi, sometimes described as “Korean sauerkraut”, shares a few attributes with German kraut including:

Sour flavor from lactic-acid fermentation

Cabbage as an ingredient

Credited with promoting longevity

Viral-killing properties

High in Vitamin C, natural probiotics and enzymes

Used as a condiment with meals

Naturally-preserved, having a long shelf-life when properly stored

While sauerkraut may be made with white or red cabbage, and occasionally, an addition of shredded carrots or caraway, kimchi goes beyond the cabbage, including a wide-range of vegetables and spices, resulting in fiery flavors from the addition of red peppers, or cayenne powder in addition to ginger and garlic.

My favorite kimchi recipe is my White Radish Kimchi. My husband’s favorite kimchi recipe is more classic – bok choy, garlic, green onions, ginger, carrots, and heavy on the red pepper spice! His kimchi has been known to drive people from the room, when he opens the lid. His mindset is, “That’s more for me…”…..

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/107/kimchi-happy-food/
Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:14:01 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-09-07:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/9c5fde389d2ba07c92b81411976ef687Collection of Favorite Lacto-Fermentation Quotes.... A dozen years ago, there was very little information available about the health benefits or techniques in making lacto-fermented foods.

Although my maternal grandmother had several crocks in her rock-walled cellar, perpetually curing sauerkraut, pickles and beets, I never had the opportunity to stand by her side, learning the basics of how to re-create the same foods for my family.

What I did learn, came from eating her food. I developed a deep, strong memory of how great, authentic, well-made German-kraut smelled and tasted. When my first batch of lacto-fermented cukes turned soft and slimy, my experiences told me that shouldn’t have happened – that it was realistic to expect pickled-cukes to last through the winter, and into spring (if we didn’t eat them all first!). Back to the drawing board!

The voices of Sally Fallon (co-author, Nourishing Traditions and President, Weston A. Price Foundation), and Sandor Katz (author of Wild Fermentation) filled in the words, teachings and wisdoms, for the many questions I never thought to ask my grandmother.

My fervent prayer is my children will carry the reclaimed knowledge of “pickling” a wide variety of foods, into their adult lives and that of their children. Next to teaching them about the love of Jesus Christ, I can think of nothing more important to pass along.

Here are a few pieces of “wisdom” regarding lacto-fermentation, that I’ve found to be fascinating and encouraging:

“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anti carcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.” – Sally Fallon, co-author of Nourishing Traditions

“Though the term ‘fermented’ sounds vaguely distasteful, the results of this ancient preparation and preservation technique – produced through the breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins by microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts and molds – are actually delicious. Even more so, they are so beneficial to overall health that some of these ‘functional foods’ are now considered to be ‘probiotics,’increasing your overall nutrition, promoting the growth of friendly intestinal bacteria, and aiding digestion and supporting immune function, including an increase in B vitamins (even Vitamin B12), omega-3 fatty acids, digestive enzymes, lactase and lactic acid, and other immune chemicals that fight off harmful bacteria and even cancer cells.” – Nancy Bentley, co-author, Dr. Mercola’s, “Total Health Program”

“Nobel Prize winner Dr. Elie Metchnikoff was one of the first scientists to recognize the benefits of eating fermented foods. His research in the early 1900’s focused on the Bulgarians. He believed the daily ingestion of yogurt was a major contribution to their superior health and longevity. Today, if you search the Internet on probiotics, you will find an almost endless supply of reasons why ‘good bacteria’ are good for you. We hope to convince you that fermenting your own foods is cheaper, more fun, and better for you than just popping a pill of freeze dried bacteria.” – The Healing Crow

“Why do some foods like chocolate, wine and cheese taste so delicious? Fermenting magically transforms their original ingredients into something more desirable. Besides upping flavor, some lactic-acid ferments, such as homemade sauerkraut, actually strengthen your immune system. Pickling, brewing and culturing are other terms to describe this process by which friendly enzymes, fungi and bacteria pre-digest a food. Fermentation increases the flavor, medicinal value and nutrition of foods.” – Rebecca Wood article, “Fermented Foods Strengthen Immune System“http://bit.ly/R8lL

“The process of fermentation offers other benefits beyond preservation. Fermented foods are easier to digest, have natural preservation properties and more available vitamins and minerals. The foods still contain live cultures that offer a boost to both the digestive tract and the immune system.” – Sarah Flessner, BS, dietetic student and Mark Kestin, PhD, MP, dean of the School of Nutrition and Exercise Science Bastyr University Natural Medicine – Fermented Food for Health

“Fermented foods arise in the human relationship to the microbial environment. Human survival is connected to yeasts and bacteria that produce lactic acid and alcohol in preserved foods. This constitutes a fermentation ecosystem that embodies the succession of species, partitioning of resources, disturbance and equilibrium found in larger ecosystems. Fermented foods are preserved by microbes that live in food storage vessels. In many societies, the contribution of fermented food has been central. Fermentation ecosystems can be used as an engaging instructional tool to illustrate ecological concepts and lead to a more complex understanding of the ecology of human nutrition. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

What an odd growing season we’ve had this past summer! While most crops suffered from summer’s snub – drenched in cold, pouring rain; deprived from the usual sweltering heat – the radish are shining stars, measuring 3-5 inches in length, and a girth to match! This is the year to make radish kimchi, one of the many variations of kimchi. described to me as a “Must Do!” by friends who claim it is their all-time favorite kimchi. (See Pickl-It FAQ, Kimchi)

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“Kimchi – Love it or loathe it, once you have eaten it, you will never forget it.” – David Chazan, BBC News

What an odd growing season we’ve had this past summer! While most crops suffered from summer’s snub – drenched in cold, pouring rain; deprived from the usual sweltering heat – the radish are shining stars, measuring 3-5 inches in length, and a girth to match! This is the year to make radish kimchi, one of the many variations of kimchi. described to me as a “Must Do!” by friends who claim it is their all-time favorite kimchi. (See Pickl-It FAQ,Kimchi)

Not All Kimchi is Red!

I’ve not been a kimchi-fan because of the cayenne pepper used for coloring and “heat”, the very thing that has, truthfully, put me in the “loathing” camp.

Staring at my pile of luscious radish, I decided to lacto-ferment it without the red pepper, and using a 2% salt brine – (See FAQ, Brine Article). After the Pickl-It was loaded with my beautiful radish discs, I THEN did my research, curious if anyone else had created a similar concoction….

Vanity, vanity says the Bible.

I discovered I was many centuries late with my radish kimchi technique which left out the pepper! I had made “White Kimchi”, a dish well-loved by Koreans!

“Kimchi made with hot peppers is a leading diet food. The capsaicin in hot peppers dissolves fat, and thus eating kimchi helps lose weight. But a recent study shows that white kimchi, which does not contain hot pepper, also prevents obesity. Conducted by a research team at Pusan National University, it shows that the garlic and ginger in white kimchi also produce fat-dissolving effects that are as strong as those generated by capsaicin.

“Pickled radish kimchi and sliced white radish kimchi promote digestion thanks to diastase, a digestive enzyme that is plentiful in radish,” says Park Chae-rin, a research director with Pulmuone’s Kimchi Field Museum. “Watery plain kimchi made of radish is very good at promoting digestion.”Flu-Trackers

There are numerous recipes for “white kimchi”, also named, “Dongchimi” or “Mool Kimchi”, all described as a “classic favorite of northern Korean”, “appreciated for its cooling effects in summer”, and its “heat-generating ability during harsh, cold winters”. Disc, diced or thread-cuts – all types of cuts are perfectly acceptable and traditional.

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http://www.pickl-it.com/blog/106/korean-white-radish-kimchi-dongchimi/
Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:38:32 GMTKathleentag:www.pickl-it.com,2009-09-07:5097e5b475016bc1005247fe6e9f8864/d39720641b64f5007ee4cac00bac4906Probiotic Effects on Cold and Influenza-Like Symptom Incidence and Duration in Children
Fermented foods are a rich source of a wide variety of probiotics – lactic acid bacteria, a scientific fact that is well-documented. One of my favorite “reads” is the Handbook of Fermented Functional Foods, a beloved Christmas present given to me by my husband, a few years ago.]]>
Commentary: Fermented foods are a rich source of a wide variety of probiotics – lactic acid bacteria, a scientific fact that is well-documented. One of my favorite “reads” is the Handbook of Fermented Functional Foods, a beloved Christmas present given to me by my husband, a few years ago.

We always keep one Pickl-It in constant use, fermenting garlic, which is not only an important daily-food, but also one that helps when it comes to the occasional bout of battling colds or the flu. Since following the dietary guidelines of Weston A. Price and Nourishing Traditions, we seldom have colds or the flu, but when we do, it is garlic to the rescue!

A perfect under-the-weather lunch is a bowl of South River Miso soup into which we add a clove of crushed garlic, accompanied by a lightly-toasted slice of sourdough bread, drenched in gently-melted home-made grass-fed butter loaded with more crushed garlic.

The following is well-documented research on the benefits of probiotics on cold and flu-like symptoms:

Probiotic Effects on Cold and Influenza-Like Symptom Incidence and Duration in Children

CONCLUSION: Daily dietary probiotic supplementation for 6 months was a safe effective way to reduce fever, rhinorrhea, and cough incidence and duration and antibiotic prescription incidence, as well as the number of missed school days attributable to illness, for children 3 to 5 years of age.